Giants Star Penalized by NFL After All Pro Xavier McKinney Took Shots at Former Teammate

The New York Giants’ season may be over, but the drama isn’t. If there’s one thing fans know, it’s that when you wear the blue, you better bring the heat. And maybe learn to duck the fines while at it. Just ask Kayvon Thibodeaux, who’s been making headlines not only for his moves on the gridiron but also for a moment that earned him some heat from the league.

The NFL just handed Kayvon Thibodeaux a fine of $16,883. A reminder from the NFL that they don’t mess around with hits to the head. The NFL fined the Giants’ linebacker for roughing Eagles QB Tanner McKee during the fourth quarter of their Week 18 game. It was the Giants’ last regular-season game, which they lost 20-13 to Philly. Guess the league is saying, ‘You can’t always get what you want’ – even when it’s just a little extra aggression on the field.

For the Giants, this season was less New York and more ‘Empire State of Blues.’ With just three wins to their name and a whopping 14 losses, the team’s year went south faster than a snowbird in December. First, they benched QB1 Daniel Jones and brought in Tommy DeVito to save the day.

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via Imago

Soon after benching Jones, the Giants announced they were releasing him. The internet went wild, with fans bashing the team’s CEO, John Mara. Though the team said the QB requested to be released, fans didn’t buy it. Anyway, bringing in DeVito couldn’t help much, and the team kept adding more numbers to their losing column.

Anyway, as the Giants say an early goodbye to the season, Packers‘ Xavier McKinney didn’t hold back on his thoughts about his former teammate. And you’ve got yourself a double dose of intrigue. Rumor has it that there might be some bad blood brewing between the two.

Xavier McKinney throws shade at Kayvon Thibodeaux ahead of the playoffsSo, Xavier McKinney, who spent four years with the Giants before joining the Packers this season, is doing pretty well in Green Bay. His first year with the Packers has been a solid one, with the team making it to the playoffs. Xavier and the squad will go up against Philly this Sunday in their wild-card round game. (And here’s where things get interesting, folks.)

The Alabama alum shared a cryptic story on Instagram that seemed like was a jab at his ex-teammate. Posting a story on Instagram the Packers safety wrote, “To think he ever thought he was better than me and for them to try to push that… lol. Oh and somebody tells buddy to hop off the Melo podcast gossiping and lock back in on his craft. Yeh it’s always smoke… remember that! Write it down, take a picture IDGAF.” That’s brutal.

Kayvon appeared on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast in Jan 2024, where he talked about the difference between playing edge rusher and safety. And that’s where it all started. Without mentioning Xavier, the linebacker had said, “I have the NFL’s hardest and easiest position,” referring to playing edge rusher.

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Anyway, the Packers’ safety can fire back at Kayvon by helping the Packers take down the Eagles in the wild-card round, but let’s be real, it’s not going to be easy, considering how Philly’s been playing. Still, anything can happen.

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