Michael Strahan is considered a member of the New York Giants’ Mount Rushmore as far as significant names of the franchise.
Strahan’s No. 92 will forever reside in the rafters of MetLife Stadium to go along with the Super Bowl banner he helped hang up there. Not to mention, Strahan has a bust that resides in Canton at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Needless to say, Strahan taking a personal interest in being a mentor to the latest big-name pass rusher for the Giants — first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux — can only be a good thing.
Thibodeaux, who spoke with the media on Saturday in East Rutherford, talked about meeting Strahan for the first time through friends and what the Hall of Famer has meant to him.
“So I would say last year, probably fall camp, actually, was when I first had the first Zoom with him and then I got to meet him. Now, actually seeing him and really talking to him and building that relationship has been dope,” Thibodeaux told reporters.
If Thibodeaux were to have a career that resembled anything like Strahan’s, that would be a tremendous thing for both he and the Giants. But Thibodeaux is also just looking to pave his own way in the league.
After that, he wouldn’t mind walking in Strahan’s media footsteps.
“They are both ridiculous,” Thibodeaux said of Strahan’s football and media careers. “But for me I feel like I kind of want to pave my own way. You know, he’s done the great things he’s done because the work he’s put in. So I got to go put the work in myself and build that legacy for myself.”
Thibodeaux is looking to be the latest part of the legacy that Strahan is a part of — legendary pass rushers like Lawrence Taylor, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Pierre-Paul — all players who helped the Giants win Super Bowls in the past.
