Late on Sunday night during the New York Giants‘ second preseason game of the year, they experienced a frightening scare when their top draft pick, Kayvon Thibodeaux had to leave with injury. Initially, the injury looked to be pretty bad, with Thibodeaux laying on the turf, writhing in pain as he grabbed his right knee.
The injury occurred when Cincinnati Bengals backup tight end Thaddeus Moss performed a legal low cut block that went after Thibodeaux’s lower region. Unfortunately the rookie wasn’t used to this action, and certainly wasn’t expecting it and his knee took a hit.
Some questioned whether the play was dirty, but it’s a typical textbook block in the NFL. If anything, most spectators were pointing the blame at Thibodeaux for not being more aware of what was about to occur. The hope is Thibodeaux will be better equipped to react the next time someone tries a cut block on him, and he can get his legs out of the way in time, avoiding injury.
Here’s the play if you have yet to see it.
Giants receive good news on Kayvon Thibodeaux
While the situation appeared bleak at first, Thibodeaux was later seen walking without a limp and was even seen laughing and joking about the play on the sideline. Yet, he didn’t return to the game.
Still, when such an injury occurs, it’s not hard to think of the worst-case scenario, where Thibodeaux has to miss a big stretch of time, or possibly even his entire rookie season.
But the Giants seem to have avoided that madness and actually got semi-good news on Monday morning when the MRI came back on his knee. Unfortunately Thibodeaux did suffer an MCL sprain and he’s expected to miss anywhere from 3-4 weeks of action. This puts his status for the regular season opener against the Tennessee Titans in danger. But the Giants remain hopeful their rookie will be good to go by Sept. 11.
Related: 5 New York Giants that have stood out the most in the preseason