Giants' Andrew Thomas active for Week 3 matchup vs. Chiefs
The hopes of Andrew Thomasmaking his anticipated 2025 season debut have now been fulfilled. The Giants' star offensive tackle is officially listed as active for thier Sunday night matchup with the Chiefs, days after sharing a positive game-time decision mindset.
The former first-round pick has been recovering from a Lisfranc injury that cut his 2024 campaign short. His last regular-season snap in the trenches came in a primetime home loss to the Bengals on Oct. 13.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll said Friday that Thomas "had another good day" of practice on Thursday. The stud lineman was limited in practice both days this week, and the team felt that a true game-time decision with him would play itself out.
Thomas said after practice Friday that he's "starting to build a volume, get my confidence back" and was excited after practicing three straight days for the first time. He stood by the game-time decision label, acknowledging that he could rotate snaps if active.
Overall, Thomas said that he's "feeling a lot better" than he did before the Giants' Week 2 game against the division-rival Cowboys. It remains to be seen how he'll fare against the Chiefs' pass rush with an undefined workload.
"The focus is longevity, right," Thomas said on Friday. "Being out there consecutive weeks and being out there for the rest of the season. So we'll decide on that on Sunday... If I'm speaking as a competitor, I wanted to be out there for Week 1. But the best thing for the team and for myself is for me to be 100 percent out there. I think I can help the team out when I'm at my best, so I'm trying to get back to that."
Since signing a five-year, $117.5 million contract ahead of the 2023 season -- including an at-the-time record for offensive linemen with $67 million guaranteed -- Thomas has played in only 16 games, missing 18. He suffered a hamstring injury in the 2023 season opener and missed seven games.
When healthy, Thomas has been one of the best left tackles in the game. He was named to the AP All-Pro second team in 2022.
The Giants are thrilled to have Thomas back in the fold, as starting quarterback Russell Wilson was sacked twice in Week 1 and three times in Week 2. Plus, replacement James Hudson III has had two dreadful performances, including being called for four penalties against the Dallas Cowboys before getting benched for rookie Marcus Mbow.