NFL Draft 2022: Is Kayvon Thibodeaux a top-5 lock?
Kayvon Thibodeaux is one of the best edge-rushers in the 2022 NFL Draft class. Yet, more question marks surround him than almost any other prospect this year, leading to doubts over whether Thibodeaux is a lock to be selected in the top-5.
Scouts primarily look for outstanding footballing skills when analyzing a player ahead of the draft. Still, the ability to evaluate a prospect’s mental strength and personality has become increasingly important over the years.
Ryan Leaf had all the footballing intangibles you could want back in 1998, yet his NFL career was nothing short of a disaster, purely because he wasn’t ready for life in the limelight on the very highest stage.
For Thibodeaux, the problem isn’t necessarily centered around a lack of pro-life readiness, but rather the fact that he has made some somewhat controversial statements to the media, which have called into question his love for and commitment to the game.
Thibodeaux wants to be Jadeveon Clowney 2.0
There is a lot to be said for self-confidence in the world of professional sport, and Thibodeaux has it in abundance. Yet, when the Oregon Ducks Defensive End stated that he wanted to be Jadeveon Clowney 2.0, eyebrows were raised for the wrong reasons.
Selected 1st overall in the 2014 NFL Draft, Clowney was seen as a prodigious pass-rusher coming off the edge, the kind of player who would become a nightmare for offenses for years to come.
However, scouts across the board had real concerns over Clowney’s work ethic.
He was seen taking too many plays off during his collegiate career, and his motor when on the field wasn’t judged to be of the requisite standard for an elite defender.
So why would he want to be seen as the second version of Clowney?
The fact that the Defensive End has bounced between four teams in the NFL over an eight-season career, registering just 41 sacks, is perhaps a sign that Thibodeaux may want to shift his goals.
Kayvon Thibodeaux
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Is his brand more important to him?
Scouts are trying to gage whether or not the Defensive End is fully committed to being part of a championship-winning roster or merely making his brand as marketable as possible.
Thibodeaux has not followed the formula for public speaking in the build-up to the 2022 NFL Draft at all. Instead, he has made headlines for all the wrong kinds of statements. In an interview with FOX Sports, Thibodeaux said:
“Do you know the stigmatism of Alabama education? It ain’t the West Coast. I sat back and said, ‘What world do I want to be a part of? I said, if I go to Alabama, I’m going to win national championships, but do I want to be a guy who’s known as a national championship winner or do I want to be a guy who’s known for being a part of the greatest organization in the world?’ "
He added:
“What people don’t realize is that football is an American sport, so no matter how great Alabama is, you only play football in America and Canada, but a brand like Nike, for me it was like ‘what brand associations do I want to be tied to?’.
Heading into a professional football league and making such negative comments about one of the most successful footballing programs in college sport raised a few eyebrows. Teams see Alabama as one of the best production lines of talent in football, and it’s worth noting they had eight players picked inside the first two rounds of the 2021 draft.
Thibodeaux is essentially saying that he wants to be known worldwide and make more money than win a national championship with Alabama. His honesty, to a degree, is admirable, but you do wonder whether he is inadvertently self-sabotaging his draft stock.
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Will Thibodeaux drop out of the top-5?
Thibodeaux has the attributes to be a tremendous Defensive End in the NFL. His college stat-line was impressive, with the 21-year-old registering 19 sacks in 30 games across his three seasons with the Oregon Ducks.
But too many scouts and draft analysts are saying the same thing. Question marks over his effort levels on the field and his interests away from the sport are starting to impact his draft stock.
ESPN’s Todd McShay had the prospect dropping out of the top-10 in his latest mock, which teams are sure to take note of.
The lack of exceptional quarterbacks in a draft class generally helps defensive prospects. They will naturally rise up the board. But when there are players who are as gifted as Thibodeaux is and have a better work ethic, it’s natural that teams will gravitate towards those options.
Aidan Hutchinson is pretty much a lock to be the first Defensive End selected in 2022. With Travon Walker rocketing up the mock draft boards after his display at the combine, you feel that Thibodeaux may need to start looking over his shoulder.
A lot depends on what the teams inside the top-5 want to do. Detroit may try and gamble on either Malik Willis or Kenny Pickett at quarterback but could quite conceivably trade back to do so. The Jets and Texans, for now, have their quarterbacks and will likely look to protect them with either of the two excellent offensive linemen available: Ikem Ekwonu out of NC State and Evan Neal of Alabama.
Thibodeaux hasn’t done enough to set himself apart from other defensive players. His talent is unquestionable, but the shortfalls are alarmingly sufficient for teams not to take a risk on him.
Clowney could perhaps get away with it in 2014, with his talent so eye-catching and the lack of potential superstar quarterbacks in that class, so he went first overall. However, time has shown this to be a significant overreach, and Khalil Mack at fifth overall in the same class has proven to be a much better pick, as many analysts predicted at the time due to concerns over Clowney’s effort levels.
Teams talk to each other, and the feeling on the Oregon graduate will be universally negative heading towards the draft, especially as his Combine performance was far from outstanding.
This is likely to be another case where someone’s mouth talks their talent out of being selected in the top-5, but will that bother Thibodeaux? I suspect not.