His voice was raspy, the result of a few celebratory days and nights in Las Vegas, where in a momentous moment for a 21-year-old, Kayvon Thibodeaux became the No. 5-overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the first-ever selection of general manager Joe Schoen’s regime with the Giants.
It was heady stuff, even for a sophisticated, thoughtful, diverse young man, and Thibodeaux, upon his arrival Saturday at the Giants’ facility in New Jersey, admitted there is a new world order in his life.
“I would say the music has just been hitting differently,’’ Thibodeaux said after posing for pictures with Schoen, head coach Brian Daboll, Thibodeaux’s mother, Shawnta Smith, and fellow first-round pick Evan Neal. “So that’s why my voice is gone because I’ve been singing along and singing my heart out. But just enjoying it. Trying to be in the moment.’’
The music is a bit different around Thibodeaux. The Giants loved his athletic gifts as a pass-rushing and run-pursuing edge player on defense and used the prolonged predraft process to get to know him as a person, to investigate the claims he was too interested in building his brand and would not give his full attention to crafting his football career. The Giants worked harder on Thibodeaux than on any other player this cycle, needing to know if using such valuable draft real estate on him would be worth the investment. They had to be convinced and, ultimately, they were.
Get the latest updates on every New York Giants pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, plus hometown analysis from the New York Post.
He was asked if a rookie has to come in and be humble, a trait not usually ascribed to him.
“I feel like a rookie got to come in and grind and everything is about what you do,’’ Thibodeaux said. “I feel like one thing with me, you can’t be a guy who blows smoke. I can’t be a guy with nothing to show for it. I can’t be a guy who people look at and don’t believe in, right? So for me, no matter what I say, I know I got to go put in the work.’’
Thibodeaux is not your ordinary rookie. In the eighth grade, he was kicked out of a Pop Warner All-Star game because his opponents thought he was tackling too hard. Thibodeaux has been doing his own laundry since he was 15. He drove a Ford Mustang to and from high school. The Los Angeles native used to walk along Venice Beach and challenge strangers to games of chess. As a freshman at Oregon he had “The Chosen One’’ inked on his right arm. He could be seen driving a black Mercedes sedan around campus in Eugene. He signed a NIL deal with eBay that he said, “Emphasizes me as a business mogul and a football player.’’
Another tattoo, inscribed three years ago, features a tally bar, with four stripes and the fifth crossing through the other four, representing five friends. He wore No. 5 at Oregon. And now he was the No. 5-overall pick in the draft.
“So to me, it’s just a testament of God and everything and the legacy that He bestowed me with just fell in line,’’ Thibodeaux said.
When “the brand’’ question was broached, Thibodeaux had anticipated it and was ready to attack it.
“It’s just so crazy,’’ he said. “So when they handed me the playbook, it was in iPad form. And me, I learn best writing. So for me, it was like the brand went out the window, right. The only thing I can think of now is the playbook and really get into it and dive into it and make sure that I know everything that I can going into training camp.’’
Thibodeaux admitted he does not have much knowledge of the Giants’ pass-rush history, but he does have a personal attachment to Michael Strahan, the franchise sack leader. He has spoken with Strahan several times, dating back to his college days at Oregon. When Thibodeaux toured the Giants’ facility for a predraft visit, Schoen made sure Strahan was in the building.
Strahan imported this message about playing for the Giants in such a large media market:
“Just to keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s kind of been the focus of all that,’’ Thibodeaux said the Hall off Famer told him. “Football is going to be that avenue. Football is going to be that terminal for everything you want to do after, so long as you keep the main thing the main thing.
“He also shed light into the idea that people thought the same thing about him. Like, man, you must have had this planned out. But for him, he shared with me that it took him being great to really cultivate everything he did off the field. It kind of just fell into place.’’
The natural follow-up: Is it more important for Thibodeaux to emulate what Strahan did on the field or the overwhelming success he has enjoyed off the field?
“They are both ridiculous, but for me I feel like I kind of want to pave my own way,’’ Thibodeaux said. “You know, he’s done the great things he’s done because of the work he’s put in. So I got to go put the work in myself and build that legacy for myself.’’
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