June 17, 2025 • 7 mins
Outside Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux speaks to the media after practice Tuesday at Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What have your first impression has been a bat with
Carter Man.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
He's a beast. He's been doing this thing. He's fast, explosive, smartened.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
How do you think his presence impacts here?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
He gives us another guy up front to rush. He's
you know, been taking his roles really, you know, strongly,
and he's been doing this thing in the inside on
the outside. So excited to have, you know, another guy
to add to the gallet.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
We've seen you and Brian tam with them side working
with him. What's it been like kind of working with them,
just seeing what he can do a little bit?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
You know, I think when new guys come in, they
always have, you know, certain talents and things that they
can help us with, and we know certain things that
we can help him with. So it's been a constant,
you know, growth mindset between all of us.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
How's the spring then?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Spring has been great? Healthy, I'm fast, I'm strong, I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Things been gooder option pick up now known this year,
next year, last year?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Didn't gonna know that for sure? Does it give you
security or do you wish it was more? Or you know,
how do you go into that? I don't really think
about you know too far ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I think for me, I can only control the now
and then now, you know, I got to get better
pass rushing. I got to get better stopping to run.
And that's why I'm focused on. I think the more
I can do for the team, the better off I'll be.
So's honing in on that.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Look at them, you know, snap by snap of last
season and everything, and then definitely says, I mean you
are heard greater of yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Definitely look snap by snap.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
You know I got hurt last year and missed kind
of that that middle part. So I tried to focus
on the last half of my season and see, you
know how I did well, and you know things I
can do better?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
What are you? What are the things that maybe felt
like you didn't do well? I didn't finish.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I think I had like five half sacks, which should
have been the whole sacks. I've had probably like four
or five miss tackles at the sack point. So just
finishing my plays and you know, being able to just
come out, you know, on top of every situation.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Are there things that you go into this season believing
that you haven't shown the league that you want to
show about who you are? As a player or who
you've grown as a player.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, I think I'm a consistent double digit sad guy
and I gotta do that.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You know, it's been three years going on four now.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
There's been a lot of ups and downs in my
career and you know, as a team, but I think
this is a team that can win, and you know
I can help that.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
What do you think about your new dvs or Paulson Man?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Love him having javan You know, I played with Javon
back in college and he's always been a field general.
Paulson's great, He's been doing his thing. He's a leader,
but I think just having that those extra pieces definitely
does add to the nucleus of the defense.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I give them college. What was he like then? Do
you see that same element now as far as being
that field general type.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, he got a nose for the ball.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You know, ever since college he's been getting that ball out,
whether it's you know, uh interceptions or punch outs and
things like that. But he's definitely you know, he makes
his teammates better and he knows everything that's going on.
So I think that's definitely gonna help some of the
younger guys step up. And then also, you know, help
the defense as a whole.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Is there any reasons to think that this defense cannot
be really good?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
No on what Emman's Christy.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Your health auditions and you guys, what's your sense of
the whole group.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I mean we've been putting in the work, We've been
putting in, you know, the time with each other, team chemistry.
I think it's kind of interesting how Joe when it
got you know, a Stanford guy for Bobby, an organ
guy for me, and we also you know, we got
a couple of organ guys on the team, but bringing
in guys that that know each other, that can play
well together, that can you know, do what needs to
get done.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
What do you estee too? I see confidence.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I think last year, you know, it was a new
new defense, a lot of moving parts, but it's a
lot more confidence growing in the team.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And then you know, the guys running the place.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Kavn, you always seem to be a guy who likes
Steve to be out front. You want to hear, You
want to hear what people have to say. Did you
have a moment at all this offseason when they drafted
ablutely he wanted to know where your future was here.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Not To be honest, I always knew where my future was.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I'm in control of my own future, and I've never
not been in control of my own future. I think,
whether it's injury, whether it's you know, whatever kind of
goes on, whatever adversity you face your futures, it's still
in your control in the day by day. So all
off season, I've just been training, working on doing what
I can do to continue to get better and control
what I can control.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Speaking of adversity, you mentioned your injury, what did you
learn you know, having to miss that chunk?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I mean, didn't make you hungrier.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Or what did you learn about now?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I've always been hungry.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I grew up poor, and this is an opportunity to
make more money than you ever make in your life.
So there's no added pressure, there's no added motivation. I
think the motivation is not only to get here, but
to stay here. And then once you're here, you're in
a land full of alliance. Right, You've got to come
out on top. So for me, I just want to
be the best.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's that's kind of what my motivation is, and that's
what you know.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I'm here to do.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Okay, You've always been sort of willing to put numbers.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
To two vials. Do you still have more than I
ever had? More than I ever had?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Every time I come out on the field, I want
to have more sacks than I ever had, more tackles
than I ever had, and what right got to do
to health the team?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So yeah, I'm still going for the record. I'm gonna
go for the record every year. What's the what's the
time you're like for you guys in the trenches? You
know Darius Gotta saying it's the best part for a receiver.
Can you run in? But you guys are battling, but
you can't.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Put ye Ota suck, Ota suck. You know you're not
You can't really show what you want to show. You
can't do what you want to do. But I think
it's definitely a time to just fine tune. For me,
this is not you know, you're not gonna use every
move in the game that you were using OTAs. But
while you're in OTA's it's good to sharpen you know
the things that you're not always you know, using.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I knew you're on the other side, but you're going
against that offense secret day.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
How much how different does it look to you this year?
I'm excited. Man.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know, all offensive lines suck to me, so I
can't really you know, across the league, literally across the league,
so I can't really tell you yet.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And we haven't been in pat so it's not really.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Much they can do either on their side to show
you know what they've been working on and things like that.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I know we allocated a lot of resources to the
old line and there's a lot of confidence, there's a
lot of swagger, there's a lot of good energy coming
from that room.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I'm excited to see, you know, how to put
it together with us.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Is there anything you've seen differently close than you've seen
from the moon Tabor filnd Or on TV.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I mean, now, he's that guy, He's the guy that
you've you know, always seen. I think he has a
great opportunity to lead us, and he's been doing that
and I'm confident in him.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I'm super excited. I'm happy there are anything.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
I mean, just a couple of years ago, you were
in a position that Duel finds himself in and that
top five pick and being brought here in a lot
of expectations. I don't know necessarily if you have sat
down and talked to him formally, but what have you
said to him about the experience that you went through
that maybe he can learn from.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Just keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I think you lose that when you come in the
league because the lights are brighter and there's a lot
more people asking questions. But honestly, just stick to what
got you here and you know, keep your head down
and grind.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I think when you get too.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Focused on everybody else's expectation or what everybody else thinks
you should be doing.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
That's when you start to lose yourself. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Me, I've been able to play my best and do
my best when I'm doing what I know I do
best right and not really focusing on the outside.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So that's that's what I told you.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Do you feel like the first couple of years you've
lost it a little bit lost it?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Do you feel like you've lost that bit of yourself
a little bit like the outside?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
When you bring that up from.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Me, well, I bring that up because that's something that's real,
you know, and I think it's every week. So when
you say you lose yourself, like you know, you don't
let it stack up right every week when we come
back in and you got we answer these questions.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You got to reevaluate.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You know who you are and what everybody, what everybody's
expectation of you is. So for me, it's after every game,
like you're gonna read it, you're gonna see it as
social media. You know we're on it every day. But
now it's like, all right, you read it, you digest it,
and you flush it and you move on and you
get back to your process.
What have your first impression has been a bat with
Carter Man.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
He's a beast. He's been doing this thing. He's fast, explosive, smartened.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
How do you think his presence impacts here?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
He gives us another guy up front to rush. He's
you know, been taking his roles really, you know, strongly,
and he's been doing this thing in the inside on
the outside. So excited to have, you know, another guy
to add to the gallet.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
We've seen you and Brian tam with them side working
with him. What's it been like kind of working with them,
just seeing what he can do a little bit?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
You know, I think when new guys come in, they
always have, you know, certain talents and things that they
can help us with, and we know certain things that
we can help him with. So it's been a constant,
you know, growth mindset between all of us.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
How's the spring then?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Spring has been great? Healthy, I'm fast, I'm strong, I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Things been gooder option pick up now known this year,
next year, last year?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Didn't gonna know that for sure? Does it give you
security or do you wish it was more? Or you know,
how do you go into that? I don't really think
about you know too far ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I think for me, I can only control the now
and then now, you know, I got to get better
pass rushing. I got to get better stopping to run.
And that's why I'm focused on. I think the more
I can do for the team, the better off I'll be.
So's honing in on that.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Look at them, you know, snap by snap of last
season and everything, and then definitely says, I mean you
are heard greater of yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Definitely look snap by snap.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
You know I got hurt last year and missed kind
of that that middle part. So I tried to focus
on the last half of my season and see, you
know how I did well, and you know things I
can do better?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
What are you? What are the things that maybe felt
like you didn't do well? I didn't finish.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I think I had like five half sacks, which should
have been the whole sacks. I've had probably like four
or five miss tackles at the sack point. So just
finishing my plays and you know, being able to just
come out, you know, on top of every situation.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Are there things that you go into this season believing
that you haven't shown the league that you want to
show about who you are? As a player or who
you've grown as a player.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, I think I'm a consistent double digit sad guy
and I gotta do that.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You know, it's been three years going on four now.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
There's been a lot of ups and downs in my
career and you know, as a team, but I think
this is a team that can win, and you know
I can help that.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
What do you think about your new dvs or Paulson Man?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Love him having javan You know, I played with Javon
back in college and he's always been a field general.
Paulson's great, He's been doing his thing. He's a leader,
but I think just having that those extra pieces definitely
does add to the nucleus of the defense.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I give them college. What was he like then? Do
you see that same element now as far as being
that field general type.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, he got a nose for the ball.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You know, ever since college he's been getting that ball out,
whether it's you know, uh interceptions or punch outs and
things like that. But he's definitely you know, he makes
his teammates better and he knows everything that's going on.
So I think that's definitely gonna help some of the
younger guys step up. And then also, you know, help
the defense as a whole.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Is there any reasons to think that this defense cannot
be really good?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
No on what Emman's Christy.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Your health auditions and you guys, what's your sense of
the whole group.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I mean we've been putting in the work, We've been
putting in, you know, the time with each other, team chemistry.
I think it's kind of interesting how Joe when it
got you know, a Stanford guy for Bobby, an organ
guy for me, and we also you know, we got
a couple of organ guys on the team, but bringing
in guys that that know each other, that can play
well together, that can you know, do what needs to
get done.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
What do you estee too? I see confidence.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I think last year, you know, it was a new
new defense, a lot of moving parts, but it's a
lot more confidence growing in the team.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And then you know, the guys running the place.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Kavn, you always seem to be a guy who likes
Steve to be out front. You want to hear, You
want to hear what people have to say. Did you
have a moment at all this offseason when they drafted
ablutely he wanted to know where your future was here.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Not To be honest, I always knew where my future was.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I'm in control of my own future, and I've never
not been in control of my own future. I think,
whether it's injury, whether it's you know, whatever kind of
goes on, whatever adversity you face your futures, it's still
in your control in the day by day. So all
off season, I've just been training, working on doing what
I can do to continue to get better and control
what I can control.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Speaking of adversity, you mentioned your injury, what did you
learn you know, having to miss that chunk?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I mean, didn't make you hungrier.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Or what did you learn about now?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I've always been hungry.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I grew up poor, and this is an opportunity to
make more money than you ever make in your life.
So there's no added pressure, there's no added motivation. I
think the motivation is not only to get here, but
to stay here. And then once you're here, you're in
a land full of alliance. Right, You've got to come
out on top. So for me, I just want to
be the best.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's that's kind of what my motivation is, and that's
what you know.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I'm here to do.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Okay, You've always been sort of willing to put numbers.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
To two vials. Do you still have more than I
ever had? More than I ever had?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Every time I come out on the field, I want
to have more sacks than I ever had, more tackles
than I ever had, and what right got to do
to health the team?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So yeah, I'm still going for the record. I'm gonna
go for the record every year. What's the what's the
time you're like for you guys in the trenches? You
know Darius Gotta saying it's the best part for a receiver.
Can you run in? But you guys are battling, but
you can't.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Put ye Ota suck, Ota suck. You know you're not
You can't really show what you want to show. You
can't do what you want to do. But I think
it's definitely a time to just fine tune. For me,
this is not you know, you're not gonna use every
move in the game that you were using OTAs. But
while you're in OTA's it's good to sharpen you know
the things that you're not always you know, using.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I knew you're on the other side, but you're going
against that offense secret day.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
How much how different does it look to you this year?
I'm excited. Man.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know, all offensive lines suck to me, so I
can't really you know, across the league, literally across the league,
so I can't really tell you yet.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And we haven't been in pat so it's not really.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Much they can do either on their side to show
you know what they've been working on and things like that.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I know we allocated a lot of resources to the
old line and there's a lot of confidence, there's a
lot of swagger, there's a lot of good energy coming
from that room.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I'm excited to see, you know, how to put
it together with us.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Is there anything you've seen differently close than you've seen
from the moon Tabor filnd Or on TV.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I mean, now, he's that guy, He's the guy that
you've you know, always seen. I think he has a
great opportunity to lead us, and he's been doing that
and I'm confident in him.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I'm super excited. I'm happy there are anything.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
I mean, just a couple of years ago, you were
in a position that Duel finds himself in and that
top five pick and being brought here in a lot
of expectations. I don't know necessarily if you have sat
down and talked to him formally, but what have you
said to him about the experience that you went through
that maybe he can learn from.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Just keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I think you lose that when you come in the
league because the lights are brighter and there's a lot
more people asking questions. But honestly, just stick to what
got you here and you know, keep your head down
and grind.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I think when you get too.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Focused on everybody else's expectation or what everybody else thinks
you should be doing.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
That's when you start to lose yourself. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Me, I've been able to play my best and do
my best when I'm doing what I know I do
best right and not really focusing on the outside.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So that's that's what I told you.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Do you feel like the first couple of years you've
lost it a little bit lost it?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Do you feel like you've lost that bit of yourself
a little bit like the outside?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
When you bring that up from.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Me, well, I bring that up because that's something that's real,
you know, and I think it's every week. So when
you say you lose yourself, like you know, you don't
let it stack up right every week when we come
back in and you got we answer these questions.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You got to reevaluate.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You know who you are and what everybody, what everybody's
expectation of you is. So for me, it's after every game,
like you're gonna read it, you're gonna see it as
social media. You know we're on it every day. But
now it's like, all right, you read it, you digest it,
and you flush it and you move on and you
get back to your process.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com