2025 Edge Rushers | Giants Huddle | New York Giants

2025 Edge Rushers | Giants Huddle | New York Giants

Let’s get rolling with another episode of the Giants podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants. Maybe the best group on this Giants roster. Maybe the deepest and might even be the best position group in this entire division. And that’s the Giants edge rusher group. Now, not just pass rushers. They stopped the run as well. New additions, returning players, a lot of them young, other guys in their prime, some vets as well. It’ll be a lot of fun talking to the Edge Group right here on the John Settle podcast. And now we’re joined by Giants ed rusher Kavon Tibido. Kavon, what’s going on, bro? I’m good, man. This is a a new year. I feel great. All right. So, I want to talk to you about something specific. Last year, you were asked about, I think, 2 million I count at times about comparing you and Brian Burns and how you compliment each other, right? And I think one of the answers that you gave a couple times that I want to dig in on a little bit is that you describe the differences in your games that he is maybe a little bit more bendy in speed and you were maybe more of a power guy, right? Did you always think of yourself as a power guy or is that something that you think you’ve kind of moved into more as you got into the NFL? I think I was I’m always a speed guy. So I think speed is you know the start to both of you know me Brian Burns and even having Abdul Carter now like he’s a speed guy as well. I think once you kind of break down how we like to execute our moves that’s when a power or a you know Burns still uses speed. So you’ll see a lot of spins, you’ll see a lot of quick jabs. You’ll see a lot of, you know, different movements that rely heavily on speed. Dip and rip off the edge. Dip and rip. Right? Same for Abdul, right? Abdul’s spinning. He’s dipping and ripping. He’s ghosting. He’s flashing. And those are all speed moves. For me, I’m going to use my speed, then I’m going to go longer. I’m going to raise. I’m going to do more handtohand combat than, you know, some of the more speed guys would do. Did you think about it the same way when you were in college or is that something you’ve developed as you’ve gone along? So, for me, I it was all about developing my technique. So, in college, I focused on the handto-h hand combat. When I first got in, it was all speed. It was get off. And then you start to learn like, okay, that’s not the only thing, right? You can do more if you’re able to. So, for me, I started really working on my technique and working on my hand to hand combat. But making the offensive tackle, I imagine, worry about the speed is what can set up the power, right? Nothing else works without setting up the speed because that gets them retrieve and then you catch them, right? Exactly. Exactly. Because if they’re worried about the speed, they can’t anchor down, right? Exactly. If you just got power, that’s not enough, right? You got to have a change up. And for me, speed is the start and the power is the change up. And then for other guys, you know, their change ups are are different. What was the process for you working on that hand to hand combat stuff and and the long arm and, you know, getting back inside after starting outside every day? I mean, even whether, you know, whether you’re on the field or off the field, like I do stuff in the room where like I’m literally hand to hand combat with my brother and I’m we’re just kind of fighting, we’re going through things and um the different moves and techniques that I would be in in the game, I do it at like a low tempo, low impact. So just talk about like a two-hand swipe or like a long arm like that long arm placement. I probably do that literally a 100 times a day a day. So and it’s just like making sure it’s perfect cuz you know in a game you got one time to execute it. I think a lot of people don’t realize too if you get run around the quarterback it might look good on tape. All right, he got that good but but but it it doesn’t help the defense right now. So talk about the advantage of being a pocket pusher as much as being a guy that that’s going to threaten the edge. You know what I mean? It’s a guy like Dexter Lawrence. I think, you know, he’s a perfect example. He’s not going to get to the quarterback every time, but if the quarterback can’t step into his throw, you know, quarterbacks have techniques and mechanic mechanics as well. So for us, putting the offensive lineman on the quarterback’s lap is just as important as actually tackling or sacking the quarterback. Do you get as maybe as much satisfaction is is a little strong, but do you get a level of satisfaction when one of your teammates get the sack, but they get the sack because you push the pocket and the quarterback has nowhere to run? You definitely get the satisfaction even if no one gets the sack, but you know that it was an incomplete pass or even sometimes for me it’s really that one-on-one battle. Like I don’t even have to see what happens at the end of the play, but I get the satisfaction knowing I know Dex probably attest to this, but like just get the satisfaction of just destroying the guy in front of you. And when you start to impose your will, you know, you you start to see how they break down. So now NextGen stats and stuff, they they put together like pressure numbers and stuff like that and quarterback hits. Do you pay attention or care about those raw numbers or is it just more of what your line coach is telling you in the meeting room? So for me, it’s it I really only care about what my coach tells me in the meeting room and the film. I think there’s uh there’s just a big difference between sports and numbers. You know, when you watch certain maybe like basketball, right? Yeah. Like a guy put up 40 and the numbers are this and that and it makes sense, but like there are a lot of things in a football game that don’t have statistics. 11 men working together. Yeah. They don’t have statistics. So, it’s like just how you said like if I put a guy on a quarterback’s lap, that’s not a pressure because I didn’t touch him, right? Like because I’m on the other side and I didn’t actually get past the alignment, it doesn’t register as a pressure. So, but when you watch it on tape, I’m impacting the game, right? I’m, you know, doing these things. So, to me, even setting the edge, right? When a run play when the they’re trying to, you know, run the edge and I set the edge and then he cuts back and somebody else makes the tackle, it’s like it’s not a stat, but on film, that’s what you’re supposed to do and that’s why we get, you know, paid the big bucks. All right, I’m going to ask you about Abdul Carter. What has it been like having him in the room? It seems like he has like a real like serious kind of edge to him with the way he approaches everything, right? He is. He is a little serious. You know, we going we going to loosen him up a little bit. He is a little tight right now, but um I I mean I could understand it when you come in to a team like this with guys already, you know, me, Burns, Dex, you got guys that kind of have been in league for a while and then you’re the number three pick. You got to come into the big city and people are expecting stuff. Obviously, you know, they’re expecting it from all of us, but you know, now it’s his turn to take some of that heat and uh I try to talk to him and let him know just man, go play ball, but um he’s definitely going to keep loosening up. It’s going to be fun. Have you have finally have you seen what this defense might be able to do in passing situations? second and long, third and long when all three you guys are on the field at the same time. And listen, passing situations, but even the run game, I mean, when you see the the different things we have in store and how we’re going to be able to utilize everybody and the energy and the focus and everything that we have, you know, on the line, it’s it’s going to be beautiful. You feel like Shane’s been able to expand the playbook a little bit? Yeah. Yeah, he has. I don’t want to talk too much, but I’m getting excited. But yeah, you you got me excited. I appreciate it, K. Good stuff, man. The Giants podcast is brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants. From game day celebrations to your everyday financial needs. Big Blue fans can get the most out of every moment with Citizens. Go to citizensbank.com/giants. If you want to know how to manage 2 minutes of crunchtime football, I’m your man. But if you’re wondering about a long-term financial plan, you should talk to Citizens. Hey, I can also talk lawn care. I’d like to learn about a mowing routine. Yes, I knew I could help. Make sense of your money with Citizens. Huddle up. Get in here. If you’re lined up here, you got to go over the middle with it to score. Great. How do we make that happen? I don’t know, but Citizens does. Make sense of your money with Citizens, official bank of Eli Manning. And now we’re joined by Giants. I’m just call you a defender, Chanty Goldston. So, what should I call you? Should I call you a defensive lineman? Should I call you an edge player? What should I call you player? Oh, well, well, no, I’m trying to get more specific. Chanty, sometimes general is better. Okay. So, okay. So, we’ll go general. defender. I I don’t think you’re playing offense, are you? No. Okay. So, we So, okay. So, we we’ll go defender. What has it been like trying to fit in and then kind of find your role on this defense? Um, it’s been fun. It’s been fun just seeing where like the abilities that the coaches seen in me like where I can help this defense and like what the abilities that people that were already here already have. It was nice seeing that. It’s been nice seeing that and like those things are starting to jail. So, I’m really liking how this is turning out. Well, I’ll be honest with you and look in the spring there’s no pads. So, no, you don’t want to take too much out of what’s happening up front. You’ve been all over the place in these practices. You had a pick the other day. You went to bat the ball down. You ended up catching it. You were in the back field a bunch. I I I just feel like you’ve been put in a position to make a lot of plays in these spring practices. Yeah. I think the most is well I think the biggest thing is just making the most of the reps that you’re getting and like I want to say the first the first probably the first week I wasn’t that comfortable because like not sure you know you’re coming in and like there’s different speeds like there’s guys that were here last year so this is year two of them in this defense and then this is my first year so just knowing where like my plays are to be made that and like being comfortable in that. So I’m not tracking your location on every play. I feel like you’ve been some three tech, right? And you’ve been edge. Have those been those have been the two spots you’ve been mostly correct. Yeah. So I played Yeah. Three tech, four eye. Yeah. Three technique on out lining up in and around the offensive tackle area, right? I imagine there’s some five tech in there too, right? And stuff like that. What has it been like? So, are you taking are you with Dre and you’re with Bolan? Are you splitting time between the two rooms? How is that working? Um, so I haven’t spent that much time with Dre. More so, the most that we’ve really talked about is like how can he create a plan for how I like the rush. Okay. And uh but most of my work is done with with Charlie and like there’s a there’s been a healthy balance in between the two though. That’s good. What has it been like trying to work with these other edge rushers? And what have you kind of picked up from a guy like Burns, uh, a guy like Tibido, stuff like that? Well, with Tibido, I’ve learned a lot about the like he’s really into like the hands and being a tactician. He talked to me for six minutes just about hand placement. It was great. It was fun. No, it was awesome. So, yeah, we do a lot. We’ve been getting a lot of work in with like the hands and being conscious of where they’re shooting their hands so you know what moves is going to work against who. So, I’ve I’ve been liking that. And then with Burns, I’m not going to lie, I lowkey been in like in awe of like he’s a so he’s a defensive end. Like obviously like I played with Micah last year and there was like someone who’s always been categorized as like a defensive outside linebacker and seeing that person work and like how he works in space and like the responsibilities like that’s it’s nice seeing that especially as a guy like we’re the same age. You think he’s always on his P’s and Q’s, right? Yeah. Like that’s that’s nice to see. What jumped out to me when he got here last year for the first time is you always had my impression from him on the outside. Super athlete, super bendy speed. Then he got here, I’m like, dude, he’s big. Yeah, he’s he was a lot bigger than I thought he would be when he got here. I’m like, he’s got for him to move like that at that size is crazy. Yeah, it’s it when you see a freak athlete, you you most definitely know. And his play speed, it’s Yeah. the recognition. He’s a He’s a most definitely a player. All right. So, so now that you’re here and you’re seeing the defense, see that might use you? What do you think this is going to look like for you? Do you have any goals that you set out for yourself? Things that you want to achieve this year? Uh, not any goals that I want to like publicize. I get it. I’m more so internal guy. So, but I know that a big thing in our room is being better than you were last year. M so like Charlie’s always talking about some if I can like I don’t really care what happens. If I can get you if I can get everyone in this room to be better than they were last year then I’ll feel fulfilled as a coach and like you can’t like as a player if you’re better than you were last year you’re improving and as you’re getting older you know that’s usually not what happens. People tend to go the other way. So, without putting a number on it or a metric on it, what’s one area that you want to see your game take a jump in from last year to this year? Um, get off and pad level. Okay. That Well, you’re a tall guy. It makes sense with the pad level stuff. So, so just that if I can improve those two areas and I can see my game getting better already. So, you’re playing great, dude. Appreciate it. Can’t wait to see you in the summer. Thank you, man. Those guys are going to flat out get after the quarterback. I can’t wait to see how they’re deployed, when they’re all on the field at the same time, how they’re going to be used, and just what production we see from which guys. And it really has the potential to be one of the best pass rushing groups in the National Football League. That’s all the time we have for the Giants podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants. We’ll see you next time.

On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, John Schmeelk is joined by the Giants edge rushers. They discuss what they are working on this offseason, the addition of Abdul Carter, and where they can help improve the run and pass defense. Presented by Citizens.

00:00 – Kayvon Thibodeaux
06:55 – Chauncey Golston

Subscribe to the Giants YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3dcF4jo
Subscribe to our Podcast Channels! ⬇️
🎙 Giants Podcast Network: https://nygnt.co/podcasts

#NYGiants #NFL #Giants

For more Giants action: https://www.giants.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newyorkgiants/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nygiants/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Giants
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newyorkgiants/
Follow us on TikTok: https://bit.ly/3fhkbFs
Follow us on Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3fo8VaA