Tag: kayvon thibodeaux

New York Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux aims to break all-time sack record

New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux has his sights set on breaking the single-season sack record (22.5) in 2024.

“I mean, I’m always going to shoot for the stars, so only thing you can do from here is go for the record,” he told the New York Post.

Thibodeaux does not make this statement lightly as he thinks it is very much in the cards.

“As long as you believe in it, it’s as realistic as you want it to be,” Thibodeaux said, “so if you ask me, it’s very real.”

While it is a lofty goal, the Oregon product has improved tremendously since entering the league when it comes to getting after the quarterback.

As a rookie, Thibodeaux posted a modest four sacks. However, he nearly tripled that in his sophomore season in the NFL as he finished with 11.5 sacks.

Now the former fifth overall pick will have every opportunity to improve on that as he now has two-time Pro Bowler edge rusher Brian Burns on the opposite side.

“He challenges me,” Thibodeaux said. “When you’re talking about having somebody who’s similar body types, similar mindsets that has reached a higher level of greatness than I have, it’s nothing but motivation, it’s constant work whether we’re watching film with each other, whether we’re talking ball or whether we’re on the field getting pass rush in, and seeing how he does things and how I can implement it in my game and then there’s certain things that I do differently that he can implement in his game.”

Burns has averaged nearly 10 sacks per season over the last three years and with this type of edge rushing threat on the opposite side, it should open up more room for Thibodeaux to work.

One can not forget about Dexter Lawrence as well as he has been causing havoc for quarterbacks from the nose tackle position recording 12 sacks and 49 quarterback hits in only the last two seasons.

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Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux, Brian Burns preview new sack dance

New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux has welcomed his new teammate, Brian Burns, with open arms.

Even before linking up at the team’s offseason workout program, Thibodeaux and Burns were on a boat, deep sea fishing off the Florida shore. During that time — and between casts — they were also practicing their new sack dance.

Thibodeaux shared a preview of the celebration on his Instagram account.

Burns and Thibodeaux are no strangers. They briefly met back in 2018 before Thibodeaux committed to Oregon.

“Thibodeaux, I was his host, and he took a visit to Florida State before he chose to go to Oregon. Like I said, from time to time we talk on Instagram. Other than that, nothing too deep,” Burns told reporters during his introductory press conference.

The Giants will heavily rely on the duo to help boost their pass-rush production in 2024.



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New York Giants do not plan on trading Azeez Ojulari

The New York Giants made a big splash early in free agency, acquiring edge rusher Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers.

Immediately after that trade, the Giants signed Burns to a five-year extension worth $150 million with $87 million guaranteed.

That’s a hefty price tag for a team still cleaning up a messy salary cap situation. And it might lead one to believe that some cuts or trades are coming to help balance out the financial spreadsheet.

One potential option is fellow edge rusher Azeez Ojulari, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will account for a cap hit of $2.2 million.

Ojulari has failed to reach his ceiling since joining the Giants as a second-round pick in 2021. He’s also missed 16 games over that span due to a multitude of injuries, but despite that, Big Blue has no plans to sever ties.

Dan Duggan of The Athletic reports that the Giants do not plan to trade Ojulari and intend to keep him as part of their pass rush rotation, albeit in a more limited role.

Ojulari may seem expendable, but the Giants aren’t planning to trade the 23-year-old as he enters the final year of his rookie contract, according to a league source. Having a third edge rusher with 16 sacks over the past three seasons gives the Giants much better edge depth than they’ve had in years.

It’s not ideal for Ojulari to have his contract year crashed by Burns. But even pass-rush specialists cash in, so Ojulari could secure a solid payday if he’s productive in a reduced role.

Ojulari is still entirely capable of being a productive player for the Giants, but he must find a way to remain on the field. Perhaps a smaller, more specified role will help keep him healthy.

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Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux addresses possible addition of 18th game

The NFL is still trying to digest the 17-game season they adopted back in 2021 and now comes the prospect of an 18-game schedule.

The league and its associated partners (most notably gambling sites) stand to rake in a considerable amount of additional revenue through the expansion of the regular season.

New York Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux is open to the idea, but only if the league shares their newly found riches with the players.

While the idea is still being bandied about, NBC Sports’ Mike Florio says it will still be a while before the initiative actually gains legs.

A move to an 18-game schedule likely “won’t come until the next labor deal” in 2030. The league “will likely have the same determination then that it had four years ago,” when it was “clear that the league wanted an extra game badly enough to lock out the players, like the NFL did in 2011.”

If the league does eventually expand to 18 regular season games and Thibodeaux is still playing, expect him to lead the charge for the players to receive a little extra.



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Justin Pugh wants to stay with Giants, thinks team needs a pass rusher

Long before the New York Giants signed offensive lineman Justin Pugh this past season, the 2013 first-round pick was open about his desire to return to East Rutherford.

Pugh was waiting for the right opportunity after a season-ending knee injury concluded his tenure with the Arizona Cardinals in 2022.

When the Giants called, Pugh looked to make the best of the opportunity in his second stint with the team.

Pugh prefers to remain with the Giants for the 2024 season but expects to have interest from other teams.

“Fortunately, I had some friends get hired elsewhere in the NFL this year,” Pugh told the New York Daily News. “My former coach Kliff Kingsbury and former offensive line coach [Bobby Johnson] are in Washington right now. Ben McAdoo, my former head coach, is in New England right now. The Cardinals are obviously in my backyard [living in Arizona].

“I love New York. I want to be back in New York. But if they have no ‘want’ to have me back on the team, I obviously can’t just wait around like I’m at the prom with no date. You want someone to dance with.”

Pugh has always had a love for the franchise, but it’s unclear if the Giants have a spot for him on the roster moving forward.

Whether he returns or not in 2024, one area Pugh believes the Giants must address is along the defensive edge.

“Getting a guy to pair with Dexter and Thibodeaux that is a closer, a certified threat. I would spend the most money on that position,” Pugh proclaimed. “Go get a guy that’s done it before at a high level. You look at Josh Allen, the defensive end from the Jaguars. I know he’s a free agent. I think you build from the D-line.

“If I was putting a priority on positions in the NFL, quarterback clearly is one, defensive line is two. And I would have eight of ’em. That’s how the Giants won all their Super Bowls. They had the best defensive line in football. That should be the top free agent priority for the Giants is to get another edge rusher. You need to have a guy that makes offenses lose sleep on Monday or Tuesday when you’re getting ready to play them.”

The Giants had depth on the defensive line when they won their last two Super Bowls. With Azeez Ojulari struggling to stay on the field, the Giants do have a need for another edge rusher to play opposite Kayvon Thibodeaux.

The Giants have plenty of work to do this offseason retooling a roster full of positions needing upgrades. It will be interesting to see both how much of a priority they make adding an edge rusher and if there is a fit to bring Pugh back.

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Kayvon Thibodeaux ‘thanked God’ the Giants signed Bobby Okereke

Kayvon Thibodeaux, the New York Giants’ premier edge rusher, has high praise for his teammate, Bobby Okereke.

The Giants signed Okereke from the Indianapolis Colts to a four-year, $40 million deal in the 2023 offseason. This was their splash signing of the year and it paid off in dividends as Okereke was a force to be reckoned with.

The middle linebacker finished the season with 149 tackles (his third straight season posting over 130). He also finished with career-highs in sacks (2.5), tackles for loss (11), and forced fumbles (four). His defense in the pass game was also elite as he posted a career-high 10 passes defensed and tied his career-high in interceptions with two.

Okereke’s presence can be felt alone by how much he stuffed the stat sheet but his leadership and drive make him that much more impactful.

“We just signed a guy, Bobby Okereke. He’s our middle linebacker. And I literally sat and I thanked God that they brought him on the team,” Thibodeaux said on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “His ambition — he’s on Year (6) now, I’m on Year 3. When you talk about who he is at this moment and who I am at this moment, we’re not the same player. He embodies who I want to be.”

Okereke is a great person for Thibodeaux to look up to and probably helped him already this past season.

The sophomore edge rusher saw his stats boost from 4.0 to 11.5 sacks and six to 12 tackles for loss as he had a true breakout season. Thibodeaux’s offseason work definitely paid off and he truly showed why the Giants picked him fifth overall.

Nevertheless, the inspiring words of Okereke in the locker room surely helped.

“He literally told me, ‘Bro, every day you come here you gotta find motivation.’ (One day) he gets in the cold tub, right, (and) he put his neck all the way down up to here. Cold tub, me? I’m going to the hips. He’s like, ‘Damn, KT, you ain’t gonna give your shoulders no love?’ I’m like, ‘Man, my shoulders don’t need no love.’ He said, ‘Man, what, your shoulders ain’t worth $100 million?’ He said, ‘Oh, your shoulders ain’t worth greatness?’ And I’m like, ‘alright you got me messed up.’”

Okereke still has three years left on his contract and with a fifth-year option on Thibodeaux’s contract, it looks like the linebacker/edge-rusher duo will be wreaking havoc for a few more years.

The Giants have found two foundational building blocks for their defense for years to come.

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Kayvon Thibodeaux ‘mad’ Giants paid Daniel Jones before Saquon Barkley

The New York Giants signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason but were unable to ink running back Saquon Barkley to a multi-year deal of his own.

Instead, the Giants designated Barkley their franchise player and after a brief standoff, ultimately signed him to a modified version of the one-year tender.

That’s something that didn’t sit well with linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. In fact, it made him “mad.”

“I believe in Daniel Jones,” Thibodeaux said on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “What I’m mad about is that Saquon — because if you look at the game, the tape, Saquon was responsible for at least 30 percent of our explosive plays, talking about the year [2022] we won the playoff game.

“So, for me and for the integrity of working together and hard work, and we all believe the same things, I feel like Saquon should have got paid first. That’s what I feel.”

Thibodeaux is not the first teammate to express support for Barkley but he is the first to call out Jones’ contract and make it a one or the other issue.

The problem Thibodeaux and others fail to recognize is that — whether they agree with it or not — the running back market no longer yields massive contracts. General manager Joe Schoen was willing to go to a certain point and then there was a line in the sand. Barkley and his representatives pushed for a contract similar to that of Christian McCaffrey and that just wasn’t going to happen.

Barkley’s injury history and the short shelf life of NFL running backs made it impossible for Schoen to break the bank. And while many don’t like hearing that, they are valid concerns when it comes to a long-term investment.

“I don’t know the back end — maybe it’s a franchise [tag], maybe it’s an extension, maybe it’s blah, blah, blah,” said Thibodeaux. “That’s none of my business. I have to focus on me. . . Because we see it. As a team, we know who’s putting in work and not.”

To his credit, no one puts in more work than Jones. That’s something even Barkley would attest to.

The problem with the Jones contract is that it was bungled from the very start. Schoen declined Jones’ fifth-year option and that ultimately backed him into a corner when Jones put up career-best numbers in 2022. And had they franchised DJ instead of signing him to a long-term deal, there would have been no money (or tag) left over for Barkley.

Meanwhile, Barkley’s modified deal, which added $900,000 in incentives, made him one of the league’s highest-paid running backs based on a yearly average. However, none of those incentives were hit and he ended up earning the $10.1 million that the original tag called for.

Barkley is again an impending free agent and the Giants appear to be in no rush to sign him long-term.

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Giants vs. Eagles: 5 biggest storylines for Week 18

The New York Giants (5-11) host the Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) in the 2023 regular-season finale at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday afternoon.

Here are five storylines to follow before kickoff in Week 18.

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5 biggest storylines for Week 15

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Second-year wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson is another young player who is coming into his own this season.

Robinson caught six of seven targets for 79 yards on Monday night and made several eye-popping plays in the process.

“He’s steadily gotten better, I’d say physically, which improves your confidence,” head coach Brian Daboll said this week. “In the last few weeks, you can really see explosive quickness, he ran some really good routes again, was open quite a bit. Had the big play in the run, played with toughness, I’d say played competitively. For a smaller guy, too, he was mixing it up pretty good.”

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Kayvon Thibodeaux presents a unique challenge

When the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints take the field on Sunday, both teams will be as hungry for a win as the other.

The Saints are in a three-way tie in their division and need a win to separate themselves from the rest. The Giants are trying to establish that they’re still a contender in the Wild Card hunt.

A large part of the Giants’ recent success has been the play on the defensive side of the ball. Primarily the play of one Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has recorded 11.5 sacks and is ninth in the NFL in that department.

After practice on Friday, Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael was asked about Thibs’ sacks and what he does well.

“I think he rushes the passer extremely well, and I think that when you look at him, you see it, you see a variety of different things that he does. He’s obviously a guy that’s a difference-maker for them, so we have to be alert to where he is. He’s a challenge,” he said.

A challenge, indeed.

At the age of 23, Thibodeaux stands at 6-foot-5 and weighs 258 pounds, but his speed off the line is not representative of his size. He is athletic and has a high football IQ. His anticipation improves every week, and he learns throughout the game. He has more sacks in the fourth quarter this season than any other quarter.

Thibodeaux is definitely a challenge for opposing offenses. We’ll see what the Saints have in mind on Sunday and if it will be effective.

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