Kayvon Thibodeaux responds to Todd McShay's harsh breakdown of his NFL Draft projection
The 2022 NFL Draft is only a few short months away and scouts and analysts across the country will have until late April to dissect who they think is underrated and overrated. ESPN’s Todd McShay gave a bit of a surprising take on Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux recently.
He was reporting from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, McShay said there were questions surrounding Thibodeaux’s competitive fire relative to other prospects.
Andrew Haubner of KEZI9 News tweeted out the following breakdown from McShay.
“I heard a lot about Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, including concerns that he just doesn’t play with the same fire as some other top prospects. His ceiling is high, but the floor is lower than what you want for a top-five pick. And based on a handful of conversations, it wouldn’t shock me if Thibodeaux fell out of the top five. Speaking of which, it was very apparent this week that the top of the draft isn’t normally as set as it normally is at this point. Picks at the top of the first round might be a little more based on team flavor than recent years.”
Not surprisingly, Kayvon Thibodeaux saw the breakdown and responded to it on his Twitter page. “Believe in yourself, even if you’re the only one,” he wrote. Below is the tweet.
Whatever helps to get Thibodeaux motivated. Todd McShay is not the only NFL Draft analyst talking about the former Oregon star’s stock slipping.
ESPN’s Matt Miller also tweeted out the following on Feb. 2: “Two years ago it seemed a foregone conclusion that Kayvon Thibodeaux and Derek Stingley, Jr. would lead this draft class. Now, based on what I’m hearing from NFL scouts and my own observations, it would be a surprise if either is the first player drafted at their position.”
So clearly, there is some chatter around Thibodeaux’s draft stock slipping. The former Oregon star can’t control what anyone says about him. He can, however, control how he responds and use it to motivate him.
The beautiful part about the scouting process is players have the ability to prove their detractors and doubters wrong. They can also prove people that believe in them right.
McShay and Miller bring up very valid points. Thibodeaux some production concerns compared to other elite pass rushers. While his numbers have been good; they haven’t been at the level of other comparable stars. In 30 career games at Oregon, he racked up 126 tackles, 35.5 tackles for loss, and 19 sacks.
To put it in perspective, Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson had 14 sacks during his breakout 2021-2022 campaign. Alabama’s Will Anderson, Jr., who isn’t draft-eligible yet, racked up 17.5 sacks during his 2021-2022 season. The most sacks the former Oregon edge rusher has had in one season is nine, his freshman year with the Ducks.
Thibodeaux’s production has been good, but it hasn’t been quite at the level one would expect of a player that was rated as the nation’s No. 2 overall prospect coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.
Wherever he’s drafted, it’ll be up to the former Oregon star to prove those who don’t believe in him wrong. With that in mind, it’ll be exciting to see how his NFL career plays out.