I read something similar to that about 40 years ago, where a Rabbi scholar wrote that the “giants” meant the “hairy ones,” speculating that they were remnant Neanderthals.
I’ll try to find a reference. In the Naked archeologist, there were a bunch of Israeli Rabbis (what do you call a group of Rabbis? A Flock? LOL) and they said the original translation meant that which was very old (which is referenced in the verse “mighty men of old”.
They mentioned that men of old were thought to be Titans, like the Greek Titans, and that is were the idea of giants came in.