Big Blue View
Is 2025 the year for New York Giants edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux?
There have been flashes of what he could be dating back to his rookie year. There was the strip-sack of Lamar Jackson to seal the Giants’ win over the Baltimore Ravens, as well as the sack-fumble-touchdown against the Washington Commanders that helped the Giants make the playoffs in 2022. He followed that up with an 11.5-sack season in 2023, which would normally be considered a “breakout” performance.
And yet Thibodeaux is widely treated as an afterthought in the Giants’ defensive front, a disposable asset who could be traded. He’s even considered an outright bust by some fans.
Part of the issue stems from the fact that Thibodeaux has been upfront about pursuing Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22.0, set back in 2001.
Thibodeaux’s goals have been presented — or taken — as a statement of his own personal greatness. That he will break the record because he’s just that good.
Instead, he insists, he sets his sights high because he’s chasing greatness.
“I always have personal goals,” Thibodeaux said. “I think I start off with just trying to be the best and trying to break the record. I’m always going for the league record or Strahan’s record when it comes to sacks and tackles and things like that. For me, you know, I also just want to play my best ball, whatever that looks like, so not only the numbers, but having the film to match it. For me right now, in this part of the season, I’m focused on having the film to match how I want to play.”
“I feel like if you don’t have any goals, you don’t have any direction,” he added. “If you don’t have any things set out for what you want to do, it’s hard to figure out what you’re going to do. For me, I like to set the goals so that I can at least set a standard and say, ‘Am I playing to my standard?’ And that’s why I’ve added to not only just having the goals be the goals, but then also having the film to back it up because you may not get 22 sacks. You may not get 100-and something tackles, but if you fall somewhere in between that and then you have the film and the hard work and everything to back that up, then you can be considered still a top player.”
Thibodeaux mentioned putting good play on tape, even if he isn’t stacking the stat sheet, a few times on Thursday. And to be fair, there is a bit of “Leonard Williams” in Thibodeaux’s game. Williams had one of the highest pressure rates in the league at his position, but relatively few sacks to show for it.
And in going to the tape of his play last year, Thibodeaux was a couple steps and a few seconds shy of having a monster season. The stat sheet didn’t directly reflect it, but...
