As expected Kayvon Thibodeaux is heading to the NFL. The Oregon edge rusher is declaring for the NFL Draft, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Thibodeaux will skip the Alamo Bowl to start preparing for the draft.
[RELATED: NFL, NFLPA Adjust Draft Eligibility Rules]
The six-foot-five, 250-pound defensive end is one of the top prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft, and he should be one of the first few players off the board. Both Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus and Dane Brugler of The Athletic had the defensive end being selected with the second-overall pick in their recent mock drafts. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay have Thibodeaux as the highest-rated prospect on their respective boards.
The edge rusher is a top prospect for good reason, especially following a 2021 campaign where he finished with 34 tackles and nine sacks. While Brugler acknowledges that Thibodeaux isn’t on the same tier as former top edge prospects like Myles Garrett, Chase Young, or Joey and Nick Bosa, he’ll still warrant a top pick, and he should ultimately find himself competing with Michigan edge Aidan Hutchinson for the top-overall selection.
He’s skipping the Alamo Bowl to prepare for the draft?
Well I think that tells prospective teams looking to draft him just what kind of teammate he is.
Or he’s protecting himself and his future career. As an Oregon fan, I completely understand and support his choice.
Because it’s the Alamo Bowl. Had Oregon made the playoffs and was playing Alabama, you’d be singing a different tune.
I am sure he would be playing if it was the playoffs….
Well they didn’t, so your point is irrelevant.
Coaches leave their teams early all the time, why not the players? Despite all the claims of amateurism, at the end of the day, college football is a business for the universities, the coaches, and the players. Just as coaches take new jobs elsewhere because “its the best move for themselves and their family”, players opt out of bowl games for the same reason. Most, if not all, of his teammates are going to understand. He’s trying to secure his health to fulfill his dream of playing in the NFL and making money.
No well run NFL team is going to take someone like Thibodeaux off their draft boards because he’s skipping a bowl game to keep himself healthy and prep for the draft. If they are, they probably don’t have the right people managing their draft board.
Especially after his coach just bailed. Protect that generational wealth
Christian McCaffrey did the same thing at Stanford…..and seeing how his last couple of seasons have ended…..that wasn’t the worst idea.
In a sport where you can tear an ACL on any play, it’s a smart decision
No one will remember the Alamo… Bowl.
Well played, sir.
That’s why they do as it’s business now. Why chance getting hurt with millions on the line. Sad but true.
I think what we are really wondering is how many teammates showed up for his birthday
And will he stand on the lie
Which coach is he talking to because Cristobal just bolted for Miami.
Not one single team looking to draft him will care about this. It happens every year and will continue to happen. It didnt affect Nick Bosa, McCaffery, or Fournette.
I can guarantee not.a.single team wluld move him down their draft.board because he skipped the Alamo Bowl.
Nick Bosa forfeited his season at Ohio State because of an early surgery and he wanted to train for the pros, who cares!
It tells his future team that he cares more about playing in the NFL than a meaningless bowl game. We all know injuries can happen and when you can be the number 1 overall pick, you take precautions. I remember a RB destroy his knee in the last bowl game before his career even started. He lost millions. Smart move!
Willis Mcgahee
Jaylon Smith played in the Fiesta Bowl and tore his knee and essentially ruined his future for a meaningless bowl game. It takes a special kind of stupid for anyone to think any player is obligated to play in a meaningless bowl game with literally millions of dollars at risk.
Yeah cause why show any loyalty to the school coaches and players who helped get you there? Or the fans who supported you? Not when you can cash in $$$ cha-ching! Not a chance. It’s all me me me.
And if that’s the attitude, then expect hold outs, trade demands, etc. in the future, cause why stop now?
“Sorry Coach, I’m taking myself out of this last game cause we ain’t makin’ the playoffs, and I’m a free agent next year. Can’t be risking no injury. That could cost me millions.”
Go ahead and support that kind of attitude and see how much further the state of sports declines.
They’re kids that would give their left nut just to get a chance to play in that “meaningless” bowl game, but I guess they’re just “a special kind of stupid”.
When you work as hard as they do to get into a position to make that decision as a professional athlete I think your entitled to make your own decision.
A lot of these guys also come from poor places and the money they are going to get isn’t just for themselves it’s for their family, their friends, and so on and so on.
However if you don’t make it to the league or your get injured before you make the league it’s going to affect your ability to earn and ability help others.
First thing is first and make the league and get drafted. Why risk injuring yourself for a game that doesn’t matter. It’s the same reason star nfl players don’t all play preseason.
What about the college coaches who abandoned their team before bowl games? Oklahoma and Notre Dame both had their coaches accept other positions in the last couple weeks, and at the time ND still had a chance to make the playoff and compete for a national championship. If the coaches are free to make business decisions and leave, then why shouldn’t the players be given the same liberty?
That’s “a special kind of stupid” take. What coach are you referencing in your made-up quote? Because the one that recruited him just abandoned the whole team by leaving for another school, yes, before their bowl game. Oh, but he left to go back to his hometown and where he won two national championships as a player, so where should his “loyalty” lay?
I know Cristobal bailed on them, and that’s even worse. He should’ve stayed to close out the season. Plenty of other coaches have left for better opportunities and still stayed to coach their team in a bowl game. It’s a matter of integrity.
The made up quote was a hypothetical from a hypothetical player in the NFL to a hypothetical coach. I just used it as illustrative of a “me first” type of attitude.
Good luck to Coach McClendon and Oregon in the Alamo Bowl.
Which coach is he talking to because Cristobal just bolted for Miami.
“They’re kids that would give their left nut just to get a chance to play in that “meaningless” bowl game, but I guess they’re just “a special kind of stupid”.”
Yup and now, because he is not playing one or more of those kids is getting that chance to play. The college circle of life progresses
@martial His coach that recruited him and brought him to Oregon left the program for a better job a couple days ago.
Wolves you’re correct on this. 0 NFL teams care if you skip a pointless bowl game. He’ll have plenty of film from games and will likely do some combines as well. This is about taking care of your future with life changing money.
Also his head coach just quit on him and left so there’s that too.
If he can develop in the pros like Buckner did some coach will be quite happy.
Love how Key & Peele keep coming up with these names.
Thumbs down.
Future Detroit Lion!
Seems like it’s between him and Hutchinson.