Tiki has heard enough Kayvon Thibodeaux criticism, and can’t believe the former top five draft pick is already hearing his name in the same sentence as “bust” after just three games in his sophomore season.
For Tiki, anyone suggesting that Thibodeaux is in danger of becoming a bust is not watching his impact on the field, and is only looking at box scores.
“I almost wanted to just scream at them and say ‘do you watch football like a football analyst, or do you just look at sacks?’” Tiki said. “If you don’t analyze the game in terms of what the defense is trying to do, then you don’t know what success is. Success for Kayvon Thibodeaux is not getting sacks.”
To back up his argument, Tiki pointed to the opening drive on Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, a game where Thibodeaux’s lack of presence in the box score was glaring, but his impact on the game was still a positive one.
“First play of the game, they ran away from him. Second and third play of the game, he dropped into pass coverage,” Tiki said. “Fourth play of the game, they ran away from him. Fifth play of the game, they doubled him. Sixth play of the game, they chipped him. He is not impactful because teams run away from him. Why? Because he’s a damn good run defender.
“In the second half…they started to run at Kayvon Thibodeaux. Do you know what the yardage was? About -1 yards on five or six carries.”
Tiki believes Thibodeaux is being asked to play a role in Wink Martindale’s defense that doesn’t lead to heavy sack numbers, and that is being mistaken for a lack of production, and the “bust” takes need to stop.
“They’re not asking Kayvon to be this 15 sacks a year getter. When I hear people say he is a bust…it’s frustrating to me,” Tiki said. “I know stats matter, but sometimes they lie to you.
“It’s creating a narrative that isn’t fair to the kid, because it’s utter BS.”