49ers, Buccaneers named potential trade suitors for No. 5 pick with 23.5 career sacks

Keep an eye on the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers when it comes to teams that could pursue an edge rusher ahead of the trade deadline.

The Niners' need along the edge is obvious. They lost star edge rusher Nick Bosa to a season-ending torn ACL and have the second-fewest sacks in the league through six games.

The Buccaneers have more than double that many sacks as a team, but Tampa Bay is still lacking sufficient juice and doesn't have a true No. 1 edge rusher teams need to game plan for.

Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox has a solution for both teams. He believes the Niners and Buccaneers could be trade suitors for New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux.

Here's what Knox had to say about Thibs, who the Bleacher Report analyst believes could garner a second-round pick of starting-caliber wide receiver in return.

Flipping Thibodeaux for a receiver who can help rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart would make sense. Trading him for the opportunity to draft a high-end complement for Nabers in 2026 would also be reasonable.

The Giants have been rejuvenated by Dart, and they've won two of their last three. However, Thibodeaux just doesn't feel like a long-term piece of New York's puzzle.

Potential Suitors: San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It wasn't long ago that the Giants looked set to be sellers at the deadline, but now that rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart has breathed new life into the Giants' season, it's less likely they will sell.

Making it even less likely Thibodeaux gets traded, general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are fighting for their jobs, so they'll want all hands on deck to get the most out of this season.

For now, let's say the Giants are open to trading Thibodeaux and he costs a second-round pick. While that's a lot to give up, Thibs is still only 24 years old and he has one more year left on his rookie contract, so he could be a multi-year solution, which softens the blow of giving up that kind of draft capital.

The former No. 5 overall pick would be a great fit for both the Niners and Bucs.

Thibodeaux wouldn't fill Bosa's shoes completely, but he has the kind of upside to come close, as evidenced by his 11.5 sacks in 2023. In Tampa, Thibodeaux would give the Bucs a formidable one-two punch along with Haason Reddick and is someone Tampa might be able to build its pass-rush around moving forward.

If Thibodeaux hits the trade block, we fully expect the Niners and Bucs to come calling. But that's a big if.

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