Giants’ Thibodeaux aiming to bounce back, get double-digit sacks every year and chase the NFL record

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Kayvon Thibodeaux expects a lot more from himself this season.

Especially sacks.

The New York Giants edge rusher had just 5 1/2 of them last season after setting a career best with 11 1/2 in 2023. Thibodeaux, who missed five games with a broken bone in his left wrist, has clear — and what he believes are realistic — goals heading into this season.

“I think I’m a consistent double-digit sack guy and I’ve got to do that, you know?” Thibodeaux said Tuesday after the first practice of the Giants’ three-day mandatory minicamp. “It’s been three years, going on four now, and it’s been a lot of ups and downs in my career and as a team.

“But I think this is a team that can win and I can help that.”

The fifth overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft out of Oregon had four sacks as a rookie after being rated among the top edge rushers coming out of college that year. Thibodeaux showed impressive progress in 2023 and further raised expectations for last season when he made headlines by saying he was aiming for the NFL’s single-season sacks record of 22 1/2, held by former Giants star Michael Strahan and current Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt.

And the 24-year-old Thibodeaux isn’t backing off that lofty aspiration.

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“Every time I come out on the field, I want to have more sacks than I ever had, more tackles than I ever had, and whatever I’ve got to do to help the team,” he said. “Yeah, I’m still going for the record. I’m going to go for the record every year.”

But after last year’s disappointing showing, Thibodeaux spent a chunk of the offseason watching his performance snap by snap while critically assessing his play.

“I didn’t finish,” Thibodeaux said. “I think I had like five half-sacks, which should’ve been whole sacks. I had probably like four or five missed tackles at the sack point, so just finishing my plays and just being able to come out on top in every situation.”

Thibodeaux enters this season feeling great — “I’m healthy, I’m fast, I’m strong, I’m excited” — and is part of a Giants pass rush that includes Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence and rookie Abdul Carter, the third overall pick this year.

“He gives us another guy up front to rush,” Thibodeaux said of Carter. “He’s been taking his roles really strongly and he’s been doing his thing in the inside, on the outside. So, excited to have another guy to add to the gauntlet.”

But the addition of Carter, in particular, prompted some speculation that New York could look to deal Thibodeaux, even though the team insisted it was happy with him and not shopping him.

The Giants mostly quelled that talk in April when they picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, keeping him under contract through the 2026 season.

“I don’t really think about too far ahead,” he said. “I think for me, I can only control the now, and the now, I’ve got to get better pass rushing, I’ve got to get better at stopping the run. And that’s what I’m focused on. I think the more I can do for the team, the better off I’ll be. So just hone in on that.”

Thibodeaux knows he has his doubters — he hears the outside noise whether it’s comments on sports radio or on social media. But he also knows how to handle it better, focusing on what got him to this point.

So, his inspiration doesn’t come from those critics. Or even from the adversity he has faced.

“I’ve always been hungry,” said Thibodeaux, a Los Angeles area native. “I grew up poor and this is an opportunity to make more money than you’ll ever make in your life. So, there’s no added pressure, there’s no added motivation. I think the motivation is not only to get here, but to stay here and then once you’re here, you’re in a land full of lions, you’ve got to come out on top.

“So, for me, I just want to be the best now. That’s kind of what my motivation is and that’s what I’m here to do.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL