Kayvon Thibodeaux: the “modern” athlete

When Kayvon Thibodeaux steps onto the field this fall in his debut NFL game with the New York Giants he is looking to make his mark. Selected fifth overall by the Giants in the 2022 NFL Draft, Thibodeaux may be the rookie on the field, but he expects to bring his legendary defensive end skills and intensity to the game.

Off the field, Thibodeaux has the same passion and drive to make his mark beyond being a professional athlete.

Thibodeaux says that growing up in a neighborhood of Los Angeles, he was one of the few lucky enough to make it to the college level, let alone the professional league in football. His ultimate goal was always to position himself as a positive example for the youth in his hometown and to use his financial stability to eventually start a charter school for young kids.

“The only reason people care about my story is because of football, and the only way I’ll be able to open a school and do anything I want to do is through football,” says Thibodeaux. “I’ll never lose sight that football is what got me here and that football is the platform.”

Both of these goals are coming to fruition through Thibodeaux’s The JREAM Foundation. The mission of The JREAM Foundation is to “educate, mentor, empower, and instill confidence and wisdom into underprivileged youth.”

“It’s geared toward giving kids an opportunity to be in a better learning environment and encouraging them to experiment and dream big,” Thibodeaux shared with Fox Sports.



Additionally, the foundation will provide opportunities for youth to attend Core Prep Academy Football in Southern California, which partners with private middle schools to provide a student-athlete focused curriculum.

“I’m on the board of directors for Core Prep, so I have a say in curriculum,” he told Fox Sports. “I want the kids to learn financial literacy, life skills training, trade work. We’re constantly discussing the future of the schools. We have a 10-year plan of expanding across California.”

By not defining himself by his sport, but instead using the sport as a platform to create greater impact, Thibodeaux considers himself a “modern” athlete.

He described part of the process with Fox News. “The goal is to leverage the relationships I have with big brands and big associations. Because they believe in me, I want them to believe in the kids that are basically coming up just like me. My team and I want to impact as many kids as possible.”

As part of his plan, Thibodeaux is collaborating with round21, a company that empowers expression in sports through collaboration with artists and athletes, and world-renowned artist Charly Palmer who has created cover art for John Legend’s Grammy Award-winning studio album “Bigger Love” and Time magazine’s July 2020 issue cover, “America Must Change”.

Palmer expressed his excitement about working with Thibodeaux.

“When I saw what he was doing I wanted to meet this guy because every project I take on at this point in my life has to have a community-connected concept attached to it,” Palmer said in an interview with round21. “If you are going to make a huge profit, how are you going to give some of it back?”


A panel of the Kayvon Thibodeaux JREAM commemorative football by Charly Palmer. Photo credit: Charly Palmer

Palmer has designed the Kayvon Thibodeaux JREAM football, which reflects Thibodeaux as a man and an athlete. Using the physical football as the canvas, each panel on the football depicts Thibeodeaux’s journey: rising athlete at the University of Oregon, promising NFL Draft pick for the New York Giants, and an emerging humanitarian.

Thibodeaux once told his alma mater, the University of Oregon, that while his goal was the NFL, there was more that he was looking forward to.

“It’s all about setting up my post-playing career,” Thibodeaux said in the interview. “I know football is going to take me to a new place, but I want to have the tools for afterward.”

It looks like not only does Thibodeaux have the tools for success—he is poised to make sure that the next generation of youth are set up for success as well.

For more information about the exclusive commemorative football celebrating Thibodeaux’s journey, visit round21.com/pages/football

-By Connor Bussey, BS ’19, (business administration), in collaboration with round21 and Charly Palmer