The top of the NFL sacks leaderboard includes Pro Bowlers, All-Pros, a former Defensive Player of the Year and an ascending second-year player in Kayvon Thibodeaux who is dreaming of those honors.
Thibodeaux’s 8.5 sacks in eight games for the Giants put him in a tie for third with T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett, behind Josh Allen and Danielle Hunter.
“We’ve just got to keep winning,” Thibodeaux said. “I don’t want to pride myself in individual stats and goals, but I do want to make the Pro Bowl. I do want to be in the running for the Defensive Player of the Year. Obviously, we are not playing the best as a team, so individual success doesn’t come without team success, so I’m not worried about it, but it’s dope to be in this position and be a guy that is successful, too.”
Thibodeaux started the season with zero sacks, one quarterback hit and two pressures in the first two games.
Since then, he has been a missile to the quarterback, culminating with his first career three-sack game against the Jets.
“It’s only up from here,” Thibodeaux said. “The bar keeps continuing to move and I’m proud of that.”
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale — Thibodeaux’s staunchest defender when the sacks weren’t coming — has never had a pass-rusher reach double-digit sacks in seven years of calling plays for the Ravens and Giants.
His exotic blitzes lend to a more even distribution of sacks and his outside linebackers seal the edge.
“I told him, hell, I feel like I’m his attorney sometimes standing up here [in front of media],” Martindale said. “He’s becoming a leader of this defense, as well. I think that his hard work is really paying off for him.”
Just don’t tell Thibodeaux that sacks come in bunches.
Thibodeaux considers it “disrespectful” to the weekly consistency of someone like the Vikings’ Hunter — who leads the NFL with 10 sacks — that he wants to replicate.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Thibodeaux’s surge is that he has played 130 of 133 possible defensive snaps the past two games (and at least 91 percent of the defensive snaps in four straight games) despite dealing with a knee injury that required him to wear a brace against the Jets.
“The good thing is that he’s young,” Martindale said. “Do you want him to play all those reps? No, but sometimes it’s the way the game works out. Do you want to have a play where he’s not out there? That’s a testament to how well he’s playing. So, you say, ‘Hey, let’s rest him,’ and then go, ‘Get him back in there!’”
Thibodeaux credits his durability to offseason conditioning and a lesson learned as a rookie when he “wasn’t prepared” for the increased workload from college football.
“Sacrifice your body, glorify your soul,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s going to hurt, but, you know, I guess the recognition feels a lot better.”
Or maybe the most impressive part of Thibodeaux’s surge is that he is doing it without another bona fide pass-rusher on the opposite edge because Azeez Ojulari is injured.
The pressure on Thibodeaux to deliver under outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins’ tutelage increased Monday when defensive lineman Leonard Williams — 11.5 sacks at his peak — was traded to the Seahawks.
“When you’re developing pass rushers, it’s not just a straight arrow,” Martindale said. “Usually, it’s a roller-coaster ride, but with him working with Drew and consistently studying everything, you’re seeing the growth of him as a pass-rusher. He’s perfecting his moves and counters. He’s taking advantage of situations when he gets one-on-ones.”
Thibodeaux set sack goals as a rookie that he failed to reach on his way to 4.5.
He scrapped that allegiance to numbers this season, but he still can’t resist checking the leaderboard every once in a while.
“I definitely have looked, I’ll be honest,” Thibodeaux laughed. “Because now you are chasing something. Sometimes when your team is not in the best position, you start to look at it like, ‘What can I use to motivate me?’ Or what motivation can you bring to guys around? As a defense, we’ve been able to do some great things. You keep your motivation by continuing to reap the benefits of how good you guys are playing.”
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