Film Room | What Andrew Thomas Brings to the Offense

We take a dive into a few Andrew Thomas clips to showcase his dominant run-blocking ability, along with his excellent anchor. What is there to like? What can Thomas work on?

The Giants added Andrew Thomas, a talented offensive tackle from the University of Georgia, to be their long-term solution at either tackle position. 

Thomas is an experienced starter (41 games), who dominated SEC opponents. Coach Judge and General Manager Dave Gettleman both talked about Thomas’ length and how Thomas won matchups against top pass rushers. 

Gettleman gushed about Kentucky’s Josh Allen, who was drafted #7 overall in 2019, one pick after Daniel Jones. It was hard for the Giants’ general manager to pass on the talented pass rusher, and Gettleman spoke highly of Thomas’ tape against Kentucky in 2018, as GEttleman noted when he spoke with reporter after the pick was made. 

One of the things that kind of helped the process along is the other day I took a look at his 2018 game when they played Kentucky and he played Josh Allen, and you guys know I’ve got a lot of love for Josh Allen and how talented he is. That really, that was big. As Joe said, he’s played against a lot of legitimate pass rushers and he’s done well.

Thomas also went up against K’Lavon Chaisson, the talented pass rusher out of LSU. Going up against quality edge rushers, in a talented conference, was something that Gettleman loved about Thomas. Speaking of Chasisson, 

Austin Gayle (@PFF_AustinGayle) had a fantastic tweet about Andrew Thomas’ dominance of Chaisson in 2019.

Chaisson's game against new Giants offensive tackle Andrew Thomas is where you see the concerns in his game, for sure.pic.twitter.com/Rh3PAkGIi2

— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) April 24, 2020

Thomas consistently gets up the arc to locate Chaisson, who is a lightning-quick pass rusher. I have seen reps of Thomas where his feet aren’t as quick as I would like, but watch him in these clips. 

Even on the reps where Chaisson has an edge, or Thomas is overextending, the former Bulldog captain is able to get enough power to knock Chaisson down up the arc. 

Thomas was able to handle the inside counters well, and he held his own on the edge. Chaisson won a couple of the reps with a long arm and the one rep around the edge where he disrupted Jake Fromm. The stab, dip, and rip move by Chaisson was really nice. But all in all, Thomas won the matchup with ease.

The Bulldog was also an exceptional young man, who was a team captain; yet another thing Gettleman can love about the hog molly. 

According to PFF, Thomas had a career 1,075 pass snaps and only allowed 37 quarterback pressures, while not allowing more than 2 pressures in a game since his freshman year in 2017. 

There is a lot to like about Thomas and he has a high floor. Let’s take a look at another quick tweet about his film, and try to glean some information.

In this clip, you can see some of the most important and impressive aspects of Andrew Thomas. He’s a physical run blocker, with excellent lower leg drive, and good positioning, while also being a good pass protector, with an excellent anchor. 

Watch him climb to the second level and locate two blocks, while sealing assignments away from the rushing lane, showing hip fluidity and a strong punch. 

He does a good job getting his inside hand on the inside shoulder pad of 5-techniques, while exploding through his hips and turning the defender away from the B-Gap. 

Look at him aggressively blocking the 4-technique, while climbing to the 2nd level to locate the OLB. He has solid functional athletic ability in his sets. Footwork could be better, but his length overcompensates for his lack of elite foot-speed. 

I wish he established a bit more inside hand placement, as you can see, his placement isn’t always perfect, and he tends to get the outside part of the shoulder pad, rather than the breastplate.

There are a few things to really take away from the clip above. One thing is his raw power and lower leg drive. Thomas explodes through his hips, engaging his core, and drives through opponents to clear paths for running backs. 

I love the physical nature of his run blocking. Another thing I love is his strength/anchor in pass protection, as well as his length. There are some technical flaws that can be cleaned up, but none of them are huge hindrances to his effectiveness. 

There’s a lot to like about Thomas; he’s a safe pick, which isn’t a bad thing whatsoever. Daniel Jones should love this addition, and we should all embrace Thomas with open arms, for it's been too long since the Giants had a competent young tackle that was drafted.