The New York Giants selected Oregon edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux with the fifth overall selection in this year’s NFL draft. The pomp and circumstance from that night has subsided.
This week, the rubber hit the road on that pick when the Giants opened their 2022 training camp out at East Rutherford.
The flashy kid from Los Angeles is a perfect fit for New York, but he knows he has to keep his personality in check and let his play do the talking.
“I mean you got to know how to compartmentalize,” Thibodeaux told reporters this week. “There’s a time and place for everything. So, when we are on the field it’s all business, and now it’s training camp. We’re getting ready for a long journey.
“Now it’s about bringing everything together. When you’re at home training, hitting bags, doing drills it’s one thing. And once you really start to get in that game mode, you got to start putting it together with the play calling with the situations and what you need to get done.”
Thibodeaux will be asked to play a major role for the Giants this year and beyond. The team believes he can be a ‘plug and play’ option at linebacker from Day 1. They see him and offensive Evan Neal, who the Giants took two picks later in the first round this year, as cornerstones of the future.
Thibodeaux knows this and is not taking anything for granted. He is aware the Giants need to hit on both him and Neal to be successful.
“One thing about me is that I’ve always been hard on myself, and I’ve been a stickler,” he said. “They have articulated that they’re counting on us, but I’m counting on myself to make the plays and live up to the goals I have for myself. It’s been a great journey so far, and I know that they believe in us. And they’ve given us all the tools to continue to elevate. So, now it’s just up to us to make it happen.”
The pads come on Monday and onlookers can’t wait. Neither can Thibodeaux.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “There are a lot of things as a pass rusher, as a defensive guy, you aren’t able to do without pads. The offense has the baggy jerseys you can just pull on them. Now it’ll be more of a fair game. I’ll be able to use all the moves I’ve been working on.”
