Anthony Rivardo
When healthy, Andrew Thomas is one of the best offensive tackles in all of football, and the Giants are counting on that elite version showing up for all 17 games this time. A franchise trying to develop a young quarterback lives and dies on the edge of its offensive line, and New York’s edge is one of the best in the league when its anchor is upright.
The problem is the qualifier. Thomas has been elite, and he has been unavailable, sometimes in the same calendar year, and the 2026 season leans on which of those two truths wins out.
Andrew Thomas Returned to Form in 2025
Thomas returned from the injury that wrecked his 2024 and immediately reclaimed his place among the position’s elite. He posted a 90.3 overall PFF grade in 2025, fourth among 89 qualified tackles, and his 87.2 pass-blocking grade ranked third at the position, per PFF. His pass-blocking efficiency of 98.3 was a career best. This was not a hedged, easing-back-in season; it was a return to the form that earned him second-team All-Pro honors in 2022.
| Season | Snaps | PFF Overall | Pass-Block Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1,049 | 89.1 | Second-team All-Pro |
| 2025 | 802 | 90.3 | 87.2 (3rd) |
A Lisfranc fracture in October 2024 ended Thomas’s year after just six games and required two surgeries. His 802 snaps in 2025 reflect a player who protected the blind side at a Pro Bowl level but has not stacked a fully clean season back-to-back since the foot injury. Availability, not ability, is the open question that separates those two elite seasons.
The Giants Paid For An Elite LT
Thomas is playing on the extension that made him the highest-paid left tackle in football when he signed it, a five-year, $117.5 million deal with $67 million guaranteed (h/t Spotrac). His 2026 cap hit lands at $24 million, the kind of number a team commits only to a foundational piece. The Giants used the No. 4 overall pick on him in 2020 and then backed that draft capital with premium money.
When a franchise spends a top-five pick and top-of-market cash on one position, the return is measured in Sundays played, not in flashes. New York is paying Thomas to be the structural infrastructure of the offense, and structural infrastructure has to be on the field to count.
Why It All Points At Jaxson Dart
Jaxson Dart enters year two learning his second NFL offense in as many seasons after finishing fourth in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. A young quarterback learning a new scheme needs a clean pocket to speed up his processing, and the fastest way to stall that development is pressure off the left edge. Thomas is the difference between Dart working through progressions and Dart escaping for his life.
Malik Nabers is likely to open camp on the PUP list, which means Dart may start the season without his top target and the offense will lean harder on protection to buy a thinner receiver group time to get open. Every second Thomas holds his block is a second the play stays alive.
The Season Sits On His Foot
The Giants have spent premium draft capital and premium money to make left tackle a solved problem, and for stretches it has been exactly that. The only thing standing between this offense and a stable foundation is 17 games of health from the man they are paying to provide it. Andrew Thomas does not need to prove he can play at an elite level. He needs to prove he can do it from Week 1 to Week 18.
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