The New York Giants offense looked impressive Sunday, and they may have one of their most important player Sunday night.
Giants coach Brian Daboll gave a promising update on left tackle Andrew Thomas before their practice Wednesday, and is holding out hope that Thomas may play in their home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Thomas has been building back from Lisfranc injury in his foot sustained last year — coincidentally on a Sunday night home game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7 in 2024. Thomas has played just 16 games since he was named a second-team All-Pro in 2022, helping the Giants make the playoffs that season.
New York put up 506 yards of total offense but fell to 0-2 in its 40-37 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
Will Andrew Thomas Play Sunday?
Thomas hasn’t played yet in 2025, ceding the starting tackle duties to James Hudson III — who embarrassed the Giants by committing four penalties for 40 yards on their opening drive against the Dallas before he was benched for rookie Marcus Mbow.
“Staying onsides, that’s a thing for each individual player that they got to hone in on,” Daboll said, nodding Hudson’s two false starts on the drive. “Post-snap penalties, we’ve got to make sure we’re doing things the right way. … we’ve just got to make the right decision on some of those things.
“There’s a variety of penalties that happen.”
Yet, when the Giants returned to practice Wednesday, Daboll had promising words about Thomas’ status for the Kansas City game.
“[Thomas] will take more reps than he did last week,” Daboll said while providing injury updates to open his media availability. “[We’ll] see where he is after today, but we’re encouraged where he’s at.”
Why Do The Giants Need Andrew Thomas?
The Giants could use Thomas shoring up their running attack and protecting veteran quarterback Russell Wilson’s blind side. Wilson leads the NFL in passing yards (618) after his renaissance, 450-yard performance against the Cowboys, despite being pressured 23 times and hit 10 times on 78 attempts this year.
Aside from costing the Giants with his hot-headedness, Hudson has been a disaster protecting Wilson. Hudson ranks 91st among 94 qualifying tackles with a 32.5 overall grade from Pro-Football Focus and allowed seven pressures, two hits and one sack on 84 snaps in the first two games.
Conversely, Thomas ranked 10th by Pro-Football Focus on pass-blocking grades in 2023, and having the tackle — especially to go up against Chiefs DC, and longtime Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s aggressive scheme and elite players like Chris Jones, George Karlaftis — would help the Giants offense immensely.
“They’re kind of a spin-the-dial defense,” Daboll said. “They play a number of fronts, a number of coverages and have a number of pressures.”
Yet, Kansas City is eminently more beatable than it has been in past years, proven by its 0-2 start — its first since 2014. The Chiefs have dropped close games to the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles and should get right against the Giants.
But if it has Thomas, based on its punchy performance against Dallas, the Giants offense could be in line for a big day against the Chiefs defense that has just five sacks this season.
Giants HC Brian Daboll Delivers Promising Injury Update on Andrew Thomas