Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux said on the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast that Saquon Barkley should have gotten paid before Daniel Jones.
Thibodeaux’s comments showed strong support for Barkley and presented a key Giants player’s honest reflection on the organization’s priorities.
But it is rare for professional athletes to discuss teammates’ money publicly. And it’s even rarer for a player to talk about a team’s financial investment in its quarterback in a critical light.
“You pay Daniel Jones $40 million [a year], and it was a great — Me? I believe. OK. But lemme tell you what I’m mad at. And this is the only thing I’ll say about that,” Thibodeaux, 23, told hosts Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero. “What I’m mad about is that Saquon — because if you look at the game, the tape, Saquon was responsible for at least 30% of our explosive plays [in 2022] the year we won the playoff game.
“So for me and for the integrity of working together and hard work and we all believe the same things, I feel like Saquon should have got paid first,” Thibodeaux continued. “That’s what I feel. And maybe, I don’t know the back end. Maybe it’s the franchise [tag again], maybe it’s an extension. Maybe it’s blah, blah, blah. That’s none of my business. I don’t. I focus on me.”
Then Anthony chimed in: “That’s the respect we was talking about.”
“Exactly,” Thibodeaux said. “With the team chemistry. Because we see it.”
It’s ironic that Joe Schoen’s first-ever draft pick, the No. 5 overall selection in 2022, would be the one to put the GM’s work under the microscope like this on this Wave Sports + Entertainment Original podcast.
But it was definitely timed intentionally as a message of support for Barkley, 26, who hopes to capitalize on his value this offseason if he’s able. He could be franchise-tagged a second straight year, negotiate an extension with the Giants or sign elsewhere in free agency.
Former Cowboys, Bills and Giants receiver Cole Beasley also chimed in on social media to support the Giants’ back.
“@saquon I need you to go to Dallas,” Beasley wrote on ‘X.’ “Getting to run it up on your old team who disrespected you is rejuvenating. Lol.”
Barkley responded with three laughing emojis, a fist emoji and the message, “miss my dawg.”
Thibodeaux, meanwhile, made a second reference to Jones when discussing the Giants falling short on high expectations for 2023.
“This year I’m like, ‘We might win the Super Bowl.’ I’m thinking 12-5. I’m thinking Super Bowl,” Thibodeaux said. But then “nothing went right” in a Week 1 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys, paving the way to a 6-11 season.
“I know all the Giants fans who watched the first drive of the first game, you were like, ‘Oh, we got a chance,” Thibodeaux said. ‘People, they was going to Vegas after that. They were like, ‘Yo, we cooking!’ And then football is football. Things fell apart [in] certain places. Your quarterback is your most important player. You gotta, you know — situations, you know — it is what it is.”
Thibodeaux pointed out later in the interview, though, that when players speak up, it’s important to address the underlying issues he is addressing and not just focus on the fact that he stepped out of line.
He touched on a lot of other topics in an expansive interview that demonstrated an advanced perspective on business and the world from a man his age. It’s worth a listen. Here are some of his other Giants observations:
On why he reveres and appreciates LB Bobby Okereke: “We just signed a guy, Bobby Okereke. He’s our middle linebacker. And I literally sat and I thanked God that they brought him on the team… His ambition — he’s on Year 5 now, I’m on Year 3. When you talk about who he is at this moment and who I am at this moment, we’re not the same player. He embodies who I wanna be… He literally told me, ‘Bro, everyday you come here you gotta find motivation.’ [One day] he get[s] in the cold tub, right, [and] he put his neck all the way down up to here. Cold tub, me? I’m going to the hips. He’s like, ‘Damn, KT, you ain’t gonna give your shoulders no love? I’m like, ‘Man, my shoulders don’t need no love.’ He said, ‘Man, what, your shoulders ain’t worth $100 million?’ He said, ‘Oh, your shoulders ain’t worth greatness?’ And I’m like alright you got me messed up [laughs].’”
On the Giants: “I wouldn’t want to be on any other team, with any other franchise in any other league. I love where I’m at … I believe in what we got. I think the back office, they’re gonna handle the draft well. I think they scheme and put the team together I said like I would. I like the pieces they got. I like what they’re doing. It’s their first couple draft classes. This year didn’t go too good. I love the coach. I love what we got going. Our defensive coordinator, they ended up parting ways.” Thibodeaux did not expound on former DC Wink Martindale’s resignation.
Random notes: Thibodeaux was asked if he has a ‘good rapport’ with the coaches and organization’s leaders, and he said, “I don’t think none of them like me. I don’t think none of them are my friends.” He added: “When I say ‘them,’ I’m talking about anybody in the business.” He loves being a Giant but sees it as a bottom-line business: if he performs, he’ll get paid; if he doesn’t, he won’t. Basically, he’s realistic that a college or professional program’s love for the player is conditional — and strong for him, drafting him so high — but that eventually they are also paid to replace him … When Anthony described how one player’s mistake could kill the triangle offense in basketball, Thibodeaux related it to a Giants practice late this season: “End of the season’s here, and now everything is kinda out of hand. We’re losing. We’re out of the playoffs. When you get to the end of the year, there might be a little bit of finger-pointing. You’re not finger-pointing but you’re elbow-pointing. So we get to the last couple weeks and I just remember a practice, and guys are lined up, and we’re lined up to go, and we call a blitz. And there are multiple guys, multiple, that are like, ‘I’m running the blitz.’ And the other guy’s like, ‘Who said that?’ He said, ‘I said it!’ And I heard it, and he said, ‘S–t, I guess somebody just ain’t gonna be covered.’ I was like, ‘Oh, if they do that, sub me out.’” And for me, I’m the guy — why coaches respect me is because I’m gonna tell the coach oh if they on that B.S., take me out. We not [gonna]] play these games.’ I’m addressing what needs to be addressed.” … The Giants announced they have hired Jets assistant special teams coach Michael Ghobrial as their new special teams coordinator. He replaces the fired Thomas McGaughey. Ghobrial, who turns 36 on Feb. 9, was a college special teams coordinator at Tarleton State (2016-17), Hawai’i (2018-19) and Washington State (2020) before joining the Jets in 2021.
