Skip to main content
New York Giants homepage
Advertising

Giants News | New York Giants – Giants.com

Giants Now

Presented by

Giants Now (8/4): Andrew Thomas cracks Pro Football Focus' Top 25 OT rankings

GIANTSNOW_1920x1080_HEADLINE

Andrew Thomas makes Pro Football Focus' Top 25 OT rankings

The Giants went into the offseason with shoring up the offensive line as one of the team's top priorities. They achieved their goal after drafting three offensive linemen in the first five rounds of April's NFL Draft, including the selection of Georgia offensive tackle with the No. 4 overall pick.

Thomas enjoyed a stellar three-year career with the Bulldogs. He started all 15 games at right tackle as a true freshman, earning a selection as a Freshman All-American. In his sophomore campaign, Thomas started 13 games at left tackle and was named First-Team All-SEC and First-Team All-American. As a junior, he again started 13 games at left tackle and earned several accolades, including First-Team All-SEC, Unanimous All-American and the SEC Jacobs Blocking Trophy, awarded to the conference's top blocker.

Thomas is yet to play a single snap in the NFL, but one analytics site already has the rookie lineman ranked as one of the top offensive tackles in the league.

Pro Football Focus released its rankings of the top 25 offensive tackles entering the 2020 NFL season, and coming in at No. 22 is the Giants' first round pick.

As PFF's Anthony Treash writes, "Yes, that's right — a rookie cracked the top 25. He has yet to play a snap in the league, but what we saw from Thomas at Georgia makes us confident in projecting him to the NFL. (You can read about why from PFF’s Eric Eager here.) Thomas played against some of the best competition in the country and earned a remarkable 92.7 PFF grade in 2019, tying for the best we have ever seen from an SEC tackle (La'el Collins in 2013 at LSU). He might struggle to start given the impact of COVID-19 on the offseason/preseason schedule, but Thomas looks like a safe bet in our eyes."

Nick Gates stands out among OL from 2018 class

Nick Gates joined the Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2018. After being placed on injured reserve prior to the start of the 2018 season, Gates played in all 16 games for the Giants last year with three starts.

Gates is arguably the team's most versatile lineman. He started games at right guard and right tackle in 2019, and started 25 consecutive games at left tackle while at Nebraska.

When filling in at right tackle against the Jets last year, Gates allowed just two total pressures on 54 pass blocking snaps. He started at right guard against the Dolphins in Week 15 and played extremely well, earning an 82.1 overall grade from PFF after not allowing a single pressure.

Among offensive linemen from the 2018 class who played a minimum of 250 snaps last season, Gates recorded the seventh-best pass-block grade in the league, according to PFF.

The Giants recently rewarded Gates with a two-year contract extension.

View photos of offensive lineman Nick Gates.

Photos: Veterans take the field at training camp

Training camp is officially underway.

Check out exclusive photos of Giants veterans taking the field in the gallery below.

View photos of veteran players getting in their conditioning at training camp.

24_GiantsApp_GenericPromo_1920x1080

Giants App

Download the Giants' official app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices

Related Content

Advertising