Kayvon Thibodeaux strolls past palm trees, oceanfront condominiums and tennis courts. He’s shoeless, sore, exhausted and surrounded by a cocoon of confidants, nearly a dozen total, from trainers to managers to a publicist, childhood friend and camera guy. They’re all headed to the beach, ostensibly for yet another pre-draft workout. But there’s another, ulterior reason for this not-at-all impromptu gathering: There’s a story they’re here to tell.
Couples walk dogs across the sand in Santa Monica, the famous pier and Ferris wheel looming in the background. Old dudes rally on the hard courts. A piney smell, probably weed, drifts through the air. Garbage trucks empty bins near lifeguard stands. Thibodeaux is silent, a tranquil contrast to the mid-morning St. Patrick’s Day activity. The pass rusher from Oregon acknowledges a fan shouting “Go Ducks!” as his workout begins. He lunges, jumps and sprints, training for the upcoming NFL draft underneath a cloudless sky, sand flying from feet. “It feels like it has been two years,” he tells a friend. “But it has only been eight weeks.”
Thibodeaux means the draft prep, the ever-intensifying microscope hovering overhead and the criticism lobbed his way. Once the top-ranked player in the 2019 class of college football recruits, most analysts long presumed he would go first in the ’22 draft. But as draft season unfolds, nebulous criticisms threaten to nudge him down draft boards. Doesn’t work hard enough, they’ll say; or, too many outside interests. But the eight weeks of toiling weren’t about proving “them” wrong. They were about proving himself right.
