Tag: Kayvon Thibodeaux

Every Oregon Ducks player selected in the first round of the NFL draft

A total of 23 Oregon players have been selected in the first round of the NFL Draft over the years. Here’s a look at the exclusive Duck club.

It’s become a yearly tradition over the past several years, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon.

On Thursday night, the streak of Oregon Ducks being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft continued, with the Denver Broncos selecting QB Bo Nix with the No. 12 overall pick. This is the fifth year in a row that Oregon has had a Duck drafted in the first round.

Nix is now the 23rd Oregon Duck in school history to be drafted in the first round.

A year ago, it was CB Christian Gonzalez who became the 22nd player in Oregon Ducks’ history to be selected in the first round of the draft. He was also the fourth consecutive player to go in the first round for the Ducks, dating back to 2020 when Justin Herbert went to the Los Angeles Chargers. Penei Sewell went to the Detroit Lions in 2021, and Kayvon Thibodeaux was drafted by the New York Giants in 2022.

Over the decades, there are now almost two dozen men of Oregon who have heard their names called in the opening round of the draft. Here’s a look at the Duck legends.

See it: Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux, Brian Burns preview new sack dance

During a recent fishing trip in Florida, New York Giants linebackers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns previewed their new sack dance.

New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux has welcomed his new teammate, Brian Burns, with open arms.

Even before linking up at the team’s offseason workout program, Thibodeaux and Burns were on a boat, deep sea fishing off the Florida shore. During that time — and between casts — they were also practicing their new sack dance.

Thibodeaux shared a preview of the celebration on his Instagram account.

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Burns and Thibodeaux are no strangers. They briefly met back in 2018 before Thibodeaux committed to Oregon.

“Thibodeaux, I was his host, and he took a visit to Florida State before he chose to go to Oregon. Like I said, from time to time we talk on Instagram. Other than that, nothing too deep,” Burns told reporters during his introductory press conference.

The Giants will heavily rely on the duo to help boost their pass-rush production in 2024.

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Could Giants’ defensive line be elite in 2024?

Pro Football Focus believes the New York Giants’ defensive line could be “elite” in 2024 after the team acquired edge rusher Brian Burns.

With the addition of edge rusher Brian Burns, acquired via trade from the Carolina Panthers early in free agency, the New York Giants’ defensive line appears vastly improved on paper.

PFF recently highlighted a positive takeaway for all 32 teams following the free agency period and unsurprisingly, it was that very D-line for the Giants.

NEW YORK GIANTS: THE DEFENSIVE LINE COULD BE ELITE

Dexter Lawrence is one of the best players in football, and Kayvon Thibodeaux has a ton of talent. The Giants still needed a bookend to alleviate the onus on him to be the premier pass rusher, though.

The team subsequently took a massive swing on Brian Burns. At his peak, Burns is a durable, elite pass rusher capable of taking over games. He just needs to play at that level more consistently to justify his massive new contract. One thing working in his favor is new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s scheme, which should allow Burns to play more often from a three-point stance as opposed to being an outside linebacker.

New defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s scheme may not only benefit Burns’ style of play but Kayvon Thibodeaux’s as well.

Last season, Thibodeaux had 11.5 sacks and there were plenty of times where some felt he was being dropped back into coverage too much in Wink Martindale’s defense.

The addition of Burns is a big one for the Giants’ defense in general. However, Burns is also joining a talented defensive line — likely the best of his career playing alongside one of the league’s best in Dexter Lawrence.

The Giants’ defensive line has certainly improved on paper but we won’t know how elite that unit will be until they hit the field.

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Giants do not plan on trading Azeez Ojulari

The New York Giants reportedly have no plans to cut or trade edge rusher Azeez Ojulari following the acquisition of Brian Burns.

The New York Giants made a big splash early in free agency, acquiring edge rusher Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers.

Immediately after that trade, the Giants signed Burns to a five-year extension worth $150 million with $87 million guaranteed.

That’s a hefty price tag for a team still cleaning up a messy salary cap situation. And it might lead one to believe that some cuts or trades are coming to help balance out the financial spreadsheet.

One potential option is fellow edge rusher Azeez Ojulari, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will account for a cap hit of $2.2 million.

Ojulari has failed to reach his ceiling since joining the Giants as a second-round pick in 2021. He’s also missed 16 games over that span due to a multitude of injuries, but despite that, Big Blue has no plans to sever ties.

Dan Duggan of The Athletic reports that the Giants do not plan to trade Ojulari and intend to keep him as part of their pass rush rotation, albeit in a more limited role.

Ojulari may seem expendable, but the Giants aren’t planning to trade the 23-year-old as he enters the final year of his rookie contract, according to a league source. Having a third edge rusher with 16 sacks over the past three seasons gives the Giants much better edge depth than they’ve had in years.

It’s not ideal for Ojulari to have his contract year crashed by Burns. But even pass-rush specialists cash in, so Ojulari could secure a solid payday if he’s productive in a reduced role.

Ojulari is still entirely capable of being a productive player for the Giants, but he must find a way to remain on the field. Perhaps a smaller, more specified role will help keep him healthy.

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Giants trade with Panthers for edge-rusher Brian Burns, who gets massive new contract

With Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Dexter Lawrence, the Giants now present impossible problems for opposing offensive lines.

16 months ago, the Los Angeles Rams offered two first-round picks (2024, 2025) and a second-round pick (2023) to the Carolina Panthers for the services of edge-rusher Brian Burns, and the Panthers turned the Rams down.

Now, the Panthers have traded Burns to the New York Giants for second- and fifth-round picks, and they’re off the hook for Burns’ new contract. That’s up to the Giants, who — per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network — will give Burns a new five-year deal worth up to $150 million with $87.5 million guaranteed.

As they say, timing is everything.

For the Panthers, it’s just more picks and more cap space free for new general manager Dan Morgan as the franchise keeps up the rebuilding process. For the Giants, it’s the opportunity to put Burns on the other side of edge-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, with nose tackle super-destroyer Dexter Lawrence in the middle. Which isn’t bad at all.

Last season, Burns had nine sacks and 40 total pressures, which was actually a bit of a down year for him — the 2019 16th overall pick out of Florida State had 13 sacks and 68 pressures in a career-best 2022 season. But Burns still has that ferocious acceleration to the quarterback, he can put speed-to-power moves together quite estimably, and he has a full array of techniques to get to the quarterback.

Given Burns’ relative limitations in the run game, this might be a bit of an overpay, but if it all works out, the Giants have created an impossible question to answer: Who on that defensive line do you double-team?

Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux addresses possible addition of 18th game

If the NFL adds an 18th regular season game, New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux wants more than an extra bye week.

The NFL is still trying to digest the 17-game season they adopted back in 2021 and now comes the prospect of an 18-game schedule.

The league and its associated partners (most notably gambling sites) stand to rake in a considerable amount of additional revenue through the expansion of the regular season.

New York Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux is open to the idea, but only if the league shares their newly found riches with the players.

While the idea is still being bandied about, NBC Sports’ Mike Florio says it will still be a while before the initiative actually gains legs.

A move to an 18-game schedule likely “won’t come until the next labor deal” in 2030. The league “will likely have the same determination then that it had four years ago,” when it was “clear that the league wanted an extra game badly enough to lock out the players, like the NFL did in 2011.”

If the league does eventually expand to 18 regular season games and Thibodeaux is still playing, expect him to lead the charge for the players to receive a little extra.

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Justin Pugh wants to remain with Giants, thinks they should add an edge rusher

Justin Pugh would like to return to the New York Giants and believes they should focus on beefing up the defensive line this offseason.

Long before the New York Giants signed offensive lineman Justin Pugh this past season, the 2013 first-round pick was open about his desire to return to East Rutherford.

Pugh was waiting for the right opportunity after a season-ending knee injury concluded his tenure with the Arizona Cardinals in 2022.

When the Giants called, Pugh looked to make the best of the opportunity in his second stint with the team.

Pugh prefers to remain with the Giants for the 2024 season but expects to have interest from other teams.

“Fortunately, I had some friends get hired elsewhere in the NFL this year,” Pugh told the New York Daily News. “My former coach Kliff Kingsbury and former offensive line coach [Bobby Johnson] are in Washington right now. Ben McAdoo, my former head coach, is in New England right now. The Cardinals are obviously in my backyard [living in Arizona].

“I love New York. I want to be back in New York. But if they have no ‘want’ to have me back on the team, I obviously can’t just wait around like I’m at the prom with no date. You want someone to dance with.”

Pugh has always had a love for the franchise, but it’s unclear if the Giants have a spot for him on the roster moving forward.

Whether he returns or not in 2024, one area Pugh believes the Giants must address is along the defensive edge.

“Getting a guy to pair with Dexter and Thibodeaux that is a closer, a certified threat. I would spend the most money on that position,” Pugh proclaimed. “Go get a guy that’s done it before at a high level. You look at Josh Allen, the defensive end from the Jaguars. I know he’s a free agent. I think you build from the D-line.

“If I was putting a priority on positions in the NFL, quarterback clearly is one, defensive line is two. And I would have eight of ’em. That’s how the Giants won all their Super Bowls. They had the best defensive line in football. That should be the top free agent priority for the Giants is to get another edge rusher. You need to have a guy that makes offenses lose sleep on Monday or Tuesday when you’re getting ready to play them.”

The Giants had depth on the defensive line when they won their last two Super Bowls. With Azeez Ojulari struggling to stay on the field, the Giants do have a need for another edge rusher to play opposite Kayvon Thibodeaux.

The Giants have plenty of work to do this offseason retooling a roster full of positions needing upgrades. It will be interesting to see both how much of a priority they make adding an edge rusher and if there is a fit to bring Pugh back.

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Kayvon Thibodeaux ‘thanked God’ the Giants signed Bobby Okereke

New York Giants LB Kayvon Thibodeaux says fellow LB Bobby Okereke is someone he wants to emulate and “thanked God” the team signed him.

Kayvon Thibodeaux, the New York Giants’ premier edge rusher, has high praise for his teammate, Bobby Okereke.

The Giants signed Okereke from the Indianapolis Colts to a four-year, $40 million deal in the 2023 offseason. This was their splash signing of the year and it paid off in dividends as Okereke was a force to be reckoned with.

The middle linebacker finished the season with 149 tackles (his third straight season posting over 130). He also finished with career-highs in sacks (2.5), tackles for loss (11), and forced fumbles (four). His defense in the pass game was also elite as he posted a career-high 10 passes defensed and tied his career-high in interceptions with two.

Okereke’s presence can be felt alone by how much he stuffed the stat sheet but his leadership and drive make him that much more impactful.

“We just signed a guy, Bobby Okereke. He’s our middle linebacker. And I literally sat and I thanked God that they brought him on the team,” Thibodeaux said on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “His ambition — he’s on Year (6) now, I’m on Year 3. When you talk about who he is at this moment and who I am at this moment, we’re not the same player. He embodies who I want to be.”

Okereke is a great person for Thibodeaux to look up to and probably helped him already this past season.

The sophomore edge rusher saw his stats boost from 4.0 to 11.5 sacks and six to 12 tackles for loss as he had a true breakout season. Thibodeaux’s offseason work definitely paid off and he truly showed why the Giants picked him fifth overall.

Nevertheless, the inspiring words of Okereke in the locker room surely helped.

“He literally told me, ‘Bro, every day you come here you gotta find motivation.’ (One day) he gets in the cold tub, right, (and) he put his neck all the way down up to here. Cold tub, me? I’m going to the hips. He’s like, ‘Damn, KT, you ain’t gonna give your shoulders no love?’ I’m like, ‘Man, my shoulders don’t need no love.’ He said, ‘Man, what, your shoulders ain’t worth $100 million?’ He said, ‘Oh, your shoulders ain’t worth greatness?’ And I’m like, ‘alright you got me messed up.'”

Okereke still has three years left on his contract and with a fifth-year option on Thibodeaux’s contract, it looks like the linebacker/edge-rusher duo will be wreaking havoc for a few more years.

The Giants have found two foundational building blocks for their defense for years to come.

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Kayvon Thibodeaux ‘mad’ Giants paid Daniel Jones before Saquon Barkley

Kayvon Thibodeaux admits it bothered him that the New York Giants signed QB Daniel Jones long-term before RB Saquon Barkley.

The New York Giants signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason but were unable to ink running back Saquon Barkley to a multi-year deal of his own.

Instead, the Giants designated Barkley their franchise player and after a brief standoff, ultimately signed him to a modified version of the one-year tender.

That’s something that didn’t sit well with linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. In fact, it made him “mad.”

“I believe in Daniel Jones,” Thibodeaux said on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “What I’m mad about is that Saquon — because if you look at the game, the tape, Saquon was responsible for at least 30 percent of our explosive plays, talking about the year [2022] we won the playoff game.

“So, for me and for the integrity of working together and hard work, and we all believe the same things, I feel like Saquon should have got paid first. That’s what I feel.”

Thibodeaux is not the first teammate to express support for Barkley but he is the first to call out Jones’ contract and make it a one or the other issue.

The problem Thibodeaux and others fail to recognize is that — whether they agree with it or not — the running back market no longer yields massive contracts. General manager Joe Schoen was willing to go to a certain point and then there was a line in the sand. Barkley and his representatives pushed for a contract similar to that of Christian McCaffrey and that just wasn’t going to happen.

Barkley’s injury history and the short shelf life of NFL running backs made it impossible for Schoen to break the bank. And while many don’t like hearing that, they are valid concerns when it comes to a long-term investment.

“I don’t know the back end — maybe it’s a franchise [tag], maybe it’s an extension, maybe it’s blah, blah, blah,” said Thibodeaux. “That’s none of my business. I have to focus on me. . . Because we see it. As a team, we know who’s putting in work and not.”

To his credit, no one puts in more work than Jones. That’s something even Barkley would attest to.

The problem with the Jones contract is that it was bungled from the very start. Schoen declined Jones’ fifth-year option and that ultimately backed him into a corner when Jones put up career-best numbers in 2022. And had they franchised DJ instead of signing him to a long-term deal, there would have been no money (or tag) left over for Barkley.

Meanwhile, Barkley’s modified deal, which added $900,000 in incentives, made him one of the league’s highest-paid running backs based on a yearly average. However, none of those incentives were hit and he ended up earning the $10.1 million that the original tag called for.

Barkley is again an impending free agent and the Giants appear to be in no rush to sign him long-term.

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2024 NFL draft: 10 year history of the No. 5 overall pick

Here’s a quick look back at every player selected at No. 5 overall dating back to the 2014 NFL draft.

With the Chargers holding the No. 5 overall pick, here is a look at the past ten years of fifth selections in the NFL draft.