Kayvon Thibodeaux’s pre-draft visit with the Detroit Lions was slated to come this week, and it appears Allen Park will be first on his itinerary.
It was no surprise, given the extensive work they’ve done to evaluate him, the Detroit Lions were going to host Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux for a pre-draft visit this week. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Thibodeaux will visit the Lions on Tuesday.
Per Pelissero, after visiting the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles last week, Thibodeaux will also visit the New York Giants (who have the No. 5 overall pick) on Thursday and the New York Jets (who have the fourth overall pick) on Friday.
So it’s a busy week for the player who was once tabbed as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, and it’ll start with a visit to the Lions–for whatever that’s worth. When the week is done, if things hold that way, he will not have had a visit with just one team picking in the top-five–the Jacksonville Jaguars, who of course have the No. 1 pick.
Kayvon Thibodeaux to the Lions buzz is picking up a bit of steam
As noted by Benjamin Raven of MLive, recent mock draft buzz for the Lions with the No. 2 overall pick has shifted toward Thibodeaux and Georgia defensive lineman Travon Walker. While that’s not especially meaningful to some people, it could be seen as a sign Thibodeaux’s perceived tumbling draft stock is correcting toward where it belongs.
Talk about Thibodeaux not loving football enough is not backed up by evidence. He played through an ankle injury suffered early last season, when he could have sat out. He could have gone as far as to declare he wouldn’t play again, in order to focus on getting healthy and preparing for the draft.
As Thibodeaux has talked to teams in the pre-draft process, he has apparently not given the stock “all-football, all the time” answers coaches, etc. want to hear. But as the smoke screens thin and April 28 inches closer, it looks like he’ll still be a top-five pick and the Lions are about to complete their evaluation of him.