Over the past decade, the New York Giants and New York Jets, by virtue of losing a lot of football games, have been selecting very high in the NFL draft.

Such was rhetoric case in 2022, when the Jets held the fourth overall selection and the Giants had the next pick. The Giants also had the seventh pick, and the Jets had the 10th selection.

There were a slew of franchise-changing players in the top 10, and both clubs were tied to just about all of them. The Jets selected Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner at No. 4. The Giants then took Oregon edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux at No. 5 and followed that pick up by taking Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal at No. 7.

The Jets would take Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson three picks later.

Thibodeaux, in a Zoom interview with reporters on Thursday, spoke about the 2022 draft. He was at one time the top prospect and coveted by just about every team. By the time draft night came, the outspoken Thibodeaux’s stock had taken a slide after an exhausting month of visits and interviews.

Thibs was asked if he always felt he would be a Giant or if the Jets might take him.

“Honestly, no. I didn’t. I didn’t think I was going to go to the Jets,” he said. “It’s funny, I’m going to share this story. When you go on those 30 visits, and you do those tests, man, and I was so tired, I was jet lagged, and they had me doing the tests, and I don’t know why I couldn’t do the tests. One of the tests was just messing me up, and I just quit it, and I was like, ‘Yeah, they might not take me off that.’

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, they might not take me,’ because I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m too tired for this. I’m done.'”

The Jets lucked out after the Houston Texans selected Derek Stingley Jr. over Gardner at No. 3. Although Stingley would become a Pro Bowler like Gardner, the Jets believe they have the better player.

The Giants, figuring that Thibodeaux’s slide was unwarranted and was their good fortune, jumped at the chance to draft him. Three summers later, they are still hopeful he can be elite.

“At that time, at that part of the draft and that timing, I didn’t really know where I was going to go,” continued Thibodeaux. “It was in between one, two, three, four, five, all the way down to eight, so me, I was just grateful for wherever I went.”

At camp this summer, Thibodeaux is looking bigger, better, stronger, and faster. He has his sights on breaking Michael Strahan’s NFL record for sacks in a single season (22.5 in 2001, which was tied by Pittsburgh’s T.J.Watt in 2021).

“I always have a personal goal,” he said. “I think I start off with just trying to be the best and trying to break the record. I’m always going for the league record or Strahan’s record when it comes to sacks and tackles, and things like that.

“For me, you know, I also just want to play my best ball, whatever that looks like, so not only the numbers, but having the film to match it. For me right now, in this part of the season, I’m focused on having the film to match how I want to play.”

That’s a much greater focus than Thibodeaux gave the Jets during his pre-draft visits.