Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas (foot, questionable) is “going to make a gametime decision” on whether he’ll make his season debut Sunday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I’m feeling good. Three days in a row practicing, first time doing that,” Thomas said Friday. “Starting to build a volume, getting my confidence back. So it’s exciting for sure.”
Thomas is no guarantee to play, though. Even if he does, there’s a “possibility” he could find himself in a rotation with rookie Marcus Mbow.
Thomas has taken this rehabilitation timeline into his own hands. As he said Friday, “the focus is longevity, being out there consecutive weeks and for the rest of the season.”
“It’s a conversation,” Thomas said. “We go back and forth. I think we’re all on the same page, and communication is the biggest thing.
“I’ve been doing a good job of making sure that they understand where I’m coming from,” he added. “They’re doing the same thing, and we’re meeting in the middle to find the best thing for me and the team.”
So while he wants to help the desperate Giants (0-2) get their first win over the Chiefs (0-2), Thomas is not going to let the team’s dire situation force his decision.
“If I’m speaking as a competitor, I wanted to be out there Week 1,” Thomas said. “But the best thing for the team and myself is for me to be 100% 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.”
The lingering uncertainty around Thomas’ status, even after a full week’s worth of practice, seems to be sign that putting him on the field in Week 3 still might be too soon.
The Giants have rushed Thomas back to the field before and learned their lesson the hard way.
He played in only 10 games in 2023 due to an early season hamstring injury that he aggravated by returning to practice too early. And that was on top of left ankle issues that required two surgeries early in his career before doctors completely cleaned up his issues on that foot.
Plus, Thomas admitted that the next step in his rehabilitation is finding out how his body will respond “the next week.”
He doesn’t know how his right foot, which was surgically repaired for a Lisfranc tear last October, will even respond to three consecutive practices let alone game action on Sunday night on top of that.
“The biggest thing as far as rep counts or if I’m playing or not is how I respond the next week,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to base it [on]. It’s hard to tell, but we’ll see. I’ve been three days consecutive doing more, so that’s a good sign.”
The other part that creates some trepidation is that the Giants did not hold a padded practice this week.
Last Sunday’s overtime game taxed the Giants’ players enough that Brian Daboll decided not to put his team in pads at all. So Thomas did not get the padded work he would have preferred, although he said that won’t stop him from playing if his foot is ready.
“You want all the padded reps you can get, and missing training camp is tough, but I get the reality: the guys had a lot of snaps,” he said. “So I’m not frustrated at that. I’m confident in my ability. And if I feel good health wise, I think I can do my job.”
Thomas has played in 16 of a possible 36 games the past three seasons since signing a five-year, $117.5 million contract extension with the team in July 2023. The Giants have a 6-10 (.375) record with him and a 3-17 (.150) mark without him during that span.
So they need him badly against Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs defense because they struggle to win without him.
They also need Thomas back, though, because backup James Hudson’s opening drive meltdown in Dallas has rendered them paper thin on the depth chart at tackle.
Joe Schoen signed Hudson to a two-year, $12 million contract with $6 million guaranteed to be the Giants’ new swing tackle — a position the GM had ignored or misjudged to the entire team’s detriment in previous years.
Hudson practiced as the first-string left tackle the entire offseason with Thomas sidelined and rehabbing. And Hudson committed an astonishing four penalties in the span of six plays on New York’s opening drive against the Cowboys.
“It can’t happen, first of all. That’s the big thing,” Hudson said this week. “There’s a difference between playing with an edge and letting things go too far. I gotta be smarter in that situation. I’m moving past it. It won’t happen again.”
Daboll and the Giants can’t let it happen again, though. They can’t put Hudson on the field.
He announced himself as a complete liability with his lack of composure, even if his intentions have been good trying to recover his NFL career after an injury plagued season in Cleveland.
“I think it’s just I sat out last year because of an injury, missed a ton of games, so that’s where my passion and emotion comes from,” Hudson said. “Watching the guys play a lot last year and not being able to be out there kind of lit a fire under me. And I approach the game differently now and wear my emotions on my sleeve. I mean, that’s just what it is.”
Here’s the problem: Daboll seemed to enable Hudson’s behavior this week.
The head coach pointed out that “one false start penalty that was called on James wasn’t on James,” as if three penalties in six plays instead of four is good.
And both Daboll and Hudson claimed his open hand slap of Cowboys edge rusher James Houston’s head was a “technique” issue, in Daboll’s words, and an accident, in Hudson’s words.
“The club, I obviously didn’t mean to do it on purpose,” Hudson said. “If you watch the play, the guy was falling, so I mean my hand was higher a little bit.”
That story is difficult to buy.
Hudson was standing over Houston and straddling the Cowboys pass rusher on the ground after he had beaten Hudson to sack Russell Wilson on the previous play. He clearly seemed to be revved up for retaliation.
This is relevant in Week 3 because if Thomas can’t play on Sunday, that would likely make Mbow the starter and Hudson the backup, one snap away from having to go back in with the offense.
Daboll obviously doesn’t have control of the situation.
Hudson lost his temper to help start a brawl in the spring. He said Daboll told him back then that he’s “got to get control of it,” and the offensive lineman still flew off the handle when it mattered most.
Now it feels like there is more pressure than ever for Thomas to relent, complete his cautious rehab and enter the lineup.
But that will be the wrong decision if he is not 100% confident it’s the right call.
Because as bad as this 0-2 situation feels right now, if the Giants have shown anything in recent years, things can always get worse.
WORTHY QUESTIONABLE FOR CHIEFS
Giants linebacker Darius Muasau (concussion/eye) was ruled out for Sunday’s game. Linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (calf) and defensive lineman Rakeem Nuñez-Roches Sr. (foot) are doubtful. And Thomas, defensive lineman Chauncey Golston (ankle) and returner Gunner Olszewski (back) are all questionable… For Kansas City, Chiefs defensive end Mike Danna (quad) and corner Kristian Fulton (ankle) are out, and wide receivers Xavier Worthy (shoulder) and Jalen Royals (knee) are questionable.
