The New York Giants and general manager Joe Schoen pushed the chips into the middle of the table this offseason to upgrade the pass rush by trading for Brian Burns.
Burns, opposite former first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux give the Giants the chance to form one of the more dominant edge rush duos in the NFL.
However, after trading away a 2024 second-round pick, a 2024 fifth-round pick, and a conditional 2025 fifth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers to acquire Burns there could be a very clear odd-man-out in the Giants’ pass-rush rotation.
Could the New York Giants Trade Azeez Ojulari?
After being chosen by the Giants in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Azeez Ojulari quickly developed into a serviceable edge rusher, though never cracking through into developing into one of the elite at the position across the sport.
Now with Burns and Thibodeaux likely to see the lion’s share of pass-rush snaps, Ojulari may be expendable, by a general manager and coaching staff that weren’t in the building when he was drafted.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell lists Ojulari among players across the NFL most likely to be traded.
“General manager Joe Schoen and the Giants made their long-term plan at edge rusher clear this offseason,” Barnwell writes for ESPN. “They traded a second-round pick to the Panthers as the primary return for Brian Burns, who then signed a five-year, $141 million extension. With Kayvon Thibodeaux locked in on the other side of the defense, they have their two starting edge rushers in place for the next several seasons.
“That likely means Ojulari’s future is elsewhere. Selected by Dave Gettleman in the final draft of the prior regime in New York, Ojulari got off to a promising start as a rookie, racking up eight sacks and 13 knockdowns. Since then, injuries have limited him to eight sacks across 18 games over the past two seasons.”
To date, Ojulari has logged 16 sacks through his first three seasons and is coming off a 2023 campaign in which he produced 25 quarterback pressures in 265 pass-rush snaps.
Ojulari likely has value for a team looking for a young rotational rusher with upside, especially since he’s only set to count $1.4 million against the cap this season. However, he may prove more valuable to the Giants as a vehicle to recoup some of the draft capital Schoen dealt to the Panthers this offseason, as Barnwell lays out.
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