The New York Giants have had bad luck with injuries already this preseason and it isn’t even Week 1 of the NFL regular season yet though. New York rookie EDGE rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux was injured in a preseason game on Sunday night against the Cincinnati Bengals on an arguable dirty hit by tight end Thaddeus Moss.
The cart was coming out for him, but Thibodeaux laughed it off on the sideline after the fact. Kayvon Thibodeaux will be out for three-to-four weeks with an MCL sprain. The ACL remains intact and there was no structural damage to it.
The NFL odds weren’t going to change much for the New York Giants whether or not he was seriously injured or not though. What does this mean for the New York Giants moving forward?
Kayvon Thibodeaux Gets To Play Most Of the Season
Kayvon Thibodeaux was the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of the University of Oregon. He was one of the blue-chip pass rushers in that class though. Thibodeaux is really explosive and has the potential to record 10 plus sacks in his rookie season.
Their first game is against the Tennessee Titans, but he may not be able to suit up for that football game. The following week, they will have the home opener against the Carolina Panthers and that is the more likely date that Kayvon Thibodeaux will make his NFL debut.
He will also play for almost the entire 2022 NFL regular season which is excellent news for this franchise. The New York Giants have not had elite pass rushers since Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Michael Strahan, and Jason Pierre-Paul. New York didn’t have many sacks last season and Kayvon Thibodeaux could record a lot of sacks in this blitz-happy Wink Martindale defense.
They Don’t Have To Think Bust
Had Kayvon Thibodeaux been out for the entire 2022 NFL regular season, a lot of people were going to say potential bust and here we go again with the New York Giants franchise not doing anything right and being cursed. At first, when the injury happened, everyone thought the worst with the cart coming out onto the field though.
The New York Giants have had first-round busts in the past and they didn’t want it to happen again with a new regime at the helm. They have only been to the playoffs since winning Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots. Many were wondering if a deal with the devil was made after that Super Bowl to jeopardize future generations of any competent New York Giants football.
Thibodeaux is well-liked across the New York Giants fan base because he works hard and is a blue-collar player and believes that he is a franchise cornerstone moving forward. With him being available for the entire season, he can make his mark in this league right away though.
A Chance At Defensive Rookie of the Year
Kayvon Thibodeaux will be one of the betting favorites to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. He will be in the race with defensive end Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions and EDGE rusher Travon Walker of the Jacksonville Jaguars along with some other candidates though.
Those three players have a solid chance to win that award. Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys won that award last season. Kayvon Thibodeaux has all of the tools to win the award this season and we will see how often he is on the football field though. Hopefully, his knee is 100 percent when he is ready to go.
He can only win this award one time in the NFL and can never win it again. Although, Kayvon Thibodeaux probably cares more about the New York Giants winning football games in 2022 than chasing awards. He does have a lot of things to work on in order to get to that point and head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale will teach him.
