A Look at OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux's Impact on the Giants Defense
If social media and the pundits are to be believed, New York Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux has made no impact whatsoever since being drafted fifth overall last year, he's not as good as Cowboys outside linebacker Micah Parsons, he's a bust, and so forth.
Everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but in some cases, it's fair to wonder what those people screaming about Thibodeaux are basing their opinions on.
Right now, Thibodeaux has 5.5 sacks, including 1.5 sacks this past weekend against the Washington Commanders. That puts him on pace for a 13.5 sack season, which would be the most that any Giants defender has had since Jason Pierre-Paul’s 16.5 sacks in 2011. Ironically enough, Pierre-Paul was 22 years old when he accomplished that, the same age as Thibodeaux.
Thibodeaux isn’t an elite edge rusher; that’s true. He isn’t Parsons, no matter how bad some Giants fans and people in the media may want him to be. But it’s ludicrous to think he hasn’t been an impact player on this defense. It’s also ludicrous to expect someone to make a Micah Parsons-caliber impact when Parsons is arguably the best defensive player on the planet right now.
"I think he’s a very good football player, and I think he's having a really good season," defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said of Thibodeaux this week.
"You're talking about a guy in the NFL that as an edge rusher, as a linebacker who played 68 out of the 69 plays, which is a rarity. I think that—where’s he at now, five-and-a-half sacks? He makes everything roll for us. No matter what he does, it might not reach what some people think he should be doing, but I think he's a hell of a football player."
Martindale scoffed at the notion that Thibodeaux's numbers, particularly his pressures, are disappointing.
"I think that we ask him to do so many different things. Sometimes, they will put all the attention on him going into that game. Sometimes, we can get one-on-one, sometimes we can't get one-on-ones," he said.
"So, all we’re interested in really is just wins and playing well defensively. Just to point one individual guy out, I think we're going down the wrong street with that. There are guys that do a lot of the other heavy lifting stuff that, in my opinion, don't get enough credit. He’s one of them with how we move him around and use him."
According to what the film has shown, it’s clear that opposing offenses are looking to key in on Thibodeaux as a focal point blocking. On the interior, Dexter Lawrence has been the man who gets double-teamed by a center/guard combination. Opposing offenses are often keeping additional tight ends or running backs in to help in pass protection, and it’s more often than not on the side that Thibodeaux is lined up.
The Commanders in Week 7 kept tight ends in to help with pass protection 24 times, with running backs being kept in another 17 times. During their Week 6 meeting, the Bills used tight ends, running backs, fullbacks, and even a receiver to help in pass protection. Not all of these are to slow down Thibodeaux, but he’s been the defender that gets chipped on the edge primarily.
From Weeks 1-6 (Week 7 data wasn't available when this article was written), Thibodeaux had the fourth-fastest time to pressure amongst qualifiers. The only three defenders generating pressure faster than Thibodeaux are Nick Bosa, Myles Garrett, and Andrew Van Ginkel--decent company to be in.
Thibodeaux hasn’t been without flaws. His run defense has been suspect at best. Far too often, there are plays where it seems as though Thibodeaux isn’t giving his maximum effort against the run, but that could be due to just trying to hold his ground and keep blockers occupied. Whatever the reason is, his run defense needs work.
It’s also important to recognize that contextually, this is a defense that early in the season was the usual blitz-happy defense we’ve grown accustomed to seeing under Martindale, but as the team has settled down a bit and spent some more time just rushing four, things have changed for Thibodeaux as well.
Against the Commanders, Thibodeaux played a season-high ten snaps in coverage as the defense opened up more with post-snap movement and pre-snap pressure looks. Against Seattle, the Giants played some of their least aggressive defense, and Thibodeaux had a breakout performance. Over the past two weeks, Thibodeaux has had 11 pressures and two sacks.
Thibodeaux, for his part, is trying to block out the noise coming from the critics.
"Everybody has an opinion, everybody has a critique, and sometimes I like it when they’re educated, sometimes when somebody’s trying to help me get better. But most of the time, you try not to pay attention to it because it’ll have your emotions going up and down," he said.
"I appreciate the support from the people who do like my game and the people who want to watch me play. I think the biggest thing is for me to continue getting better. I try to stay consistent and focus on what I can control."
This defense is growing together as Thibodeaux is growing individually. There are criticisms to be had of Thibodeaux: occasional effort lapses and run defense issues included, plus something particularly frustrating to see is that he doesn’t get his hands up frequently enough to bat passes down when he’s losing a pass-rush rep.
But Thibodeaux isn't exactly resting on his laurels.
"I think I’m continuously getting better," he said. "Carrying momentum from last year, I had four sacks, so if you’re comparing, I’m already doing better, and I’m having more of an impact. But as a team, we won a game, so I’m happy about that, and now we’re trying to keep that momentum and continue to improve as a whole."
The opinion that Thibodeaux isn’t making an impact this season, even though he’s on pace for the most sacks by a Giant since 2011 and is also on pace to be the first player ever under Wink Martindale as a defensive coordinator to hit the ten-sack mark in a season, is just telling on yourself.
Edge rushers don’t get high sack totals under Martindale, but what Thibodeaux is doing should be impressive and praised at this point in the season instead of making him the target of consistent criticism.
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