Giants legend trolled Kayvon Thibodeaux over sack numbers

During Thursday's "New York Giants 100: A Night with Legends" event, current Big Blue pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux shared how he became the victim of some good-natured ribbing at the hands of club legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor.

"I mean, (there’s) LT back there, man," Thibodeaux said on Thursday evening, as shared by Bridget Hyland of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "Just him, Michael Strahan, Carl Banks, Osi Umenyiora. We’re talking about legends. When you have a guy like LT, right? We just kind of exchanged in the back and he’s like, 'Man, how many sacks did you have last year?' And I’m like, 'I had 11.5. Pretty good.' He’s like, 'What’d you play? Three games?'"

For what it's worth, Pro-Football-Reference credits Taylor with 142 total regular-season sacks for his career. The NFL only officially began counting player sacks starting with the 1982 season.

Thibodeaux has become somewhat of a polarizing figure among fans since the Giants made him the fifth overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. He finished his rookie season with four sacks across 14 games, and some were labeling the 23-year-old as a bust last fall before he produced a handful of memorable performances en route to ending Week 18 with 11.5 sacks on the campaign.

The outspoken youngster has since made it known he's pursuing the official single-season sack record of 22.5 held by Strahan and Pittsburgh Steelers' T.J. Watt. If nothing else, Thibodeaux deserves some credit for not shying away from the fact that he's following in the footsteps of iconic defensive players such as Taylor, Strahan and Banks.

"When you’ve got those shoes to fill, you have no choice but to be great," Thibodeaux added during Thursday's event. "I’ve got the greatest guys to look up to. Now I just continue to set goals and accomplish them."

General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll hope that the Giants acquiring star pass-rusher Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers will result in Thibodeaux enjoying a breakout campaign this coming fall. 

If Thibodeaux can become the game-changing force the Giants hoped they were getting two years ago, New York could surprise doubters from this September through January 2025.