Giants impressed by Kayvon Thibodeaux and his work ethic so far
Kayvon Thibodeaux speaks to the media at Giants rookie minicamp on May 13 in East Rutherford, N.J.. Credit: Corey Sipkin
Drew Wilkins managed to find a few hours for a date night with his wife earlier this month. They went to a comedy club in New York City and Wilkins stored his cellphone in his wife’s purse for the duration of the yuks.
“I pull my phone out of the bag at the end of the show,” he recalled, “and I have like 10 texts from [Kayvon Thibodeaux]. ‘What’s this call? What do we have on this?’ This is a Saturday night and he’s studying the playbook and he wants to know ‘What’s my drop in this? What are we doing against this?’ ”
It was exactly what Wilkins, the Giants' outside linebackers coach, and the rest of the organization had come to expect from their prize first-round pick. It’s why when the draft was unfolding in April Wilkins of course wanted Thibodeaux to come to New York because he plays the position he coaches, but the entire team was excited for that possibility.
“Our whole organization, we thought this guy is a perfect fit for what we are trying to do now,” Wilkins said. “If Wink [Martindale, the Giants’ defensive coordinator] were to create an outside linebacker in a lab, it would be Kayvon Thibodeaux. He has all the skill sets you look for. He can be a dominant edge-setter, an explosive, violent, relentless pass rusher, and everything else you see that is required of the package. All those things combined, it’s such a good fit for us and he has just taken it and run with it.”
Even Thibodeaux’s oversized personality, which some teams saw as a red flag because of his apparent desire to become a “brand” rather than a football player, has meshed well with the Giants who are embracing that characteristic.
“The brand I saw was a hard-working, humble, dominant football player,” Wilkins said. “That was the brand we all recognized here at the Giants that would fit with us.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
