The 2019 NFL regular season will come to a close on Sunday and the year in just a few short days, which means the time has come to begin looking ahead to the 2020 NFL Draft and players that could help the New York Giants (and 31 other teams).
With the status of general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur up in the air, major personnel changes could be coming for Big Blue, but one things remains certain — they need help on the defensive side of the ball.
With Leonard Williams poised to become a free agent and looking for a massive contract, coupled with the substantially decreased playing time for B.J. Hill and R.J. McIntosh, the Giants may be in the market for more defensive line depth.
That could be found in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft where Arkansas State defensive lineman Kevin Thurmon Jr. is a near lock to come off the board pending an impressive All-Star Game performance that could rocket him up the charts even further.
The 6-foot-3, 298-pound Thurmon originally enrolled at Ball State but transferred to Arkansas State in 2017, missing the season due to NCAA transferring rules, but promptly became a two-year starter.
During his sophomore season at Ball State, Thurmon recorded 23 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss of 36 yards over the course of 10 games (four starts).
In 2018 for Arkansas State, Thurmon took the next step in his development, recording 63 tackles and 12.0 tackles for a loss to go along with 3.5 sacks and one forced fumble in 13 games. His 47 assisted tackles were No. 7 in the Sun Belt that year, while his 12 tackles for a loss were No. 6 in the conference — both were No. 1 among interior defensive linemen.
That was enough to earn Thurmon an All-Sun Belt Conference Honorable Mention.
As a redshirt senior in 2019, Thurmon recorded 54 tackles (29 solo), 7.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks and one pass defensed in 10 games, having missed three games earlier in the season due to a broken hand suffered during the Red Wolves’ 41-28 win over Southern Illinois on September 21.
In his first game back from the broken hand that required surgery, Thurmon, wearing a club, recorded seven tackles (six solo) against UL-Lafayette. Later, in his first game without the club, Thurmon recorded 11 tackles (six solo) and one sack in a 28-27 victory over Coastal Carolina.
Perhaps most impressively, Thurmon recorded one tackle for a loss and was credited with a remarkable eight quarterback pressures in a Camellia Bowl victory over Florida International University on December 21, earning him a spot on the All-Sun Belt Second Team.
With good size and deceptive speed (4.97 40-yard dash), Thurmon is a potential fit in both a 4-3 defensive system and a 3-4 defensive system, although he may be better suited for a hybrid 3-4 system like the one James Bettcher runs in New York.
Additionally, Thurmon has no red flags away from the field and made both the A-State Athletics Director’s Honor Roll and the Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll.
As things sit, Thurmon is projected to be picked anywhere between the fourth and sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but as noted previously, an impressive All-Star Game performance and a quality showing at the NFL Combine (pending invite) could go a long way in cementing his status as a legitimate mid-round talent with tremendous upside at the NFL level.
[lawrence-related id=636597,636540,636478]