The New York Giants are still rebuilding their entire roster, and after drafting Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick, taking unnecessary risks like putting him at right tackle could be malpractice. You don’t draft a franchise left tackle in the top five picks just to put them at right tackle, despite the fact that some players at the position have started out on the right side in their rookie seasons.
Nate Solder is one of the players that began his career at right tackle, inevitably moving over to the left side. Many players have followed this path, but I don’t believe Thomas should be put in the same situation, as John Schmeelk of Giants.com suggests.
Schmeelk believes that there will be a three-way battle for both left and right tackle between Solder, Cameron Fleming, and Thomas. If the Giants want to maximize their talent, they will move Solder over to the right side where they can plug in their rookie tackle on the left, as developing him and his chemistry with quarterback Daniel Jones is the more efficient move.
Left tackle and right tackle are vastly different
While we mustn’t forget about the traditional methods, the Giants plan on using with new head coach Joe Judge in place, playing Thomas at anything but left tackle could be a massive mistake. Both tackle spots require vastly different sets of fundamentals and technique, and while Thomas has had some experience on the right side, the chemistry he will develop with Jones is essential to the success of the offense.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post believes giving Thomas the left tackle job would be a mistake, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. His reasoning revolves around Solder, who is entering his 10th season in the NFL and has ample experience at the position. However, you could make the argument that Solder allowed 11 sacks last year and was one of the worst starters at the position in all of football.
I don’t trust him protecting Daniel Jones any longer, as consistent pressure will eventually brew sub-conscious tendencies and habits, similar to how Eli Manning looked like Happy Feet toward the end of his career.
There’s one good reason the New York Giants could plug Thomas in at RT:
The only good reasoning I have seen is from former Giant Pro Bowl center, Shaun O’Hara. He believes Thomas would be better off starting at right tackle to build his character, avoiding the same reality Ereck Flowers experienced. Allowing Thomas to build a skill set on the right side would make him interchangeable, so if he struggles at left tackle, they can move them over to the right side.
“It’s good for a guy like him to come in and, ‘No, you’re not going to left tackle, you’re playing right tackle.’ You got to earn left tackle,'” said O’Hara. “… The worst thing to happen to Ereck Flowers is he started as a rookie at left tackle. Once you start as a rookie, that first year you couldn’t tell him anything, because he had already played. That’s it. He wasn’t listening to anybody.
“It’s good you got a guy in Andrew Thomas that’s still hungry.”
O’Hara states that Flowers didn’t have to earn left tackle, and while that is true, the Giants had been struggling at the position severely and didn’t have a player with at least serviceability on the roster. Just because other players have done it in the past doesn’t mean it works to perfection every time, and I believe Thomas has the tangible and intangible traits to perform well on the left side out of the gates.
Nonetheless, I do understand and recognize that starting his career at right tackle could be beneficial in some way, but I like the upside in chemistry building factor more in his development. The idea of creating a competition is great for culture and makes it known that every position is up for grabs, even if they know Thomas will be the starter in 2020.