The New York Giants just got hit with a ton of bricks. Star left tackle Andrew Thomas will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2024 campaign after undergoing surgery Wednesday morning to repair a Lisfranc injury in his foot, according to a report by NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.
His absence leaves a massive hole to an offense line that had been shuffled and reworked by general manager Joe Schoen during the offseason to improve by leaps and bounds from the unit that gave up 85 sacks and had their quarterbacks running for their lives due to a lack of protection last year.
Thomas is the most critical piece of that unit; he makes that engine go. The former No. 4 overall pick out of the University of Georgia, was a Second-Team All-Pro in 2022. But injuries have stunted his progress since as he sustained an ankle injury that cut short his 2023 campaign to just 10 games.
By his lofty standards, the 25-year-old did not get of to his best start to the 2024 season, but the Giants’ offensive line had become a consistent unit that was not getting run through like paper mache after the acquisitions of Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan Jr. during the offseason.
Thomas suffered the injury during New York’s lone 16-play touchdown drive in the third quarter of Sunday night’s 17-7 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Thomas miraculously played through it but could be seen limping badly as the game moved on. Concern was apparent and immediate, with Thomas saying after the game that he needed an MRI to discover the extent of the damage.
“Not great,” he said afterward of how he felt. Thomas added that he was “fighting” through the pain.
Thomas, who signed a lucrative five-year, $117 million contract extension last summer, is ninth among all offensive tackles with a 91.8% pass block win rate since the start of 2022.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn Tuesday, he met with esteemed Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, North Carolina where it was decided that surgery was needed.
With Thomas out, the Giants will likely move 2022 third-round pick Josh Ezeudu to left tackle for Sunday afternoon’s Week 7 clash against the 3-2 Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium.
Another option is to shift Eluemunor from right tackle to left while drawing the struggling Evan Neal back onto the line.
