New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas Says He Has a Lot of Work to Do

Thomas projects as a Week 1 starter at offensive tackle for the Giants, but there are a few things he needs to clean up before he's ready for the bright lights of the regular season.

When Giants rookie offensive tackle Andrew Thomas looks at his work in Giants practices so far on tape, he is honest with himself about what he sees.

“A lot of work to do,” Thomas told reporters during a video conference call.

That’s not simply a rookie being modest, but rather one who is trying to be true to himself. Thomas, the fourth overall pick in the draft this year, was widely regarded as the most pro-ready of the class, but the college game is quite different from what Thomas has experienced at the pro level so far.

During Tuesday evening’s practice, Thomas, out of the University of Georgia, had some good moments, but otherwise was taken to school by the veterans during one-on-one pass-rush drills.

“At this level, there's so much technique that you have to learn so many things before the snap that you have to understand,” Thomas said of the most significant differences he’s seen since joining the NFL.

Not that he’s not capable of handling it all. Thomas, who said that he’s been taught some new techniques by offensive line coach Marc Colombo, is cross-training at both tackle spots, though it’s believed that he’ll ultimately settle in as the Giants starting left tackle.

“Andrew is a tremendous football player,” Colombo said last week. “At this level, it’s about fine-tuning some of those details. He’s aware of where he needs to get better.”

Colombo mentioned hand strike as one area that Thomas needs to work on, a sentiment with which the rookie agreed.

“For me, the biggest thing right now, especially in the past pros, are my hands,” he said. 

“In college, I had a bad habit of having my hands outside my frame, so I'm working on keeping my hands inside to get a good strike. And then in the run game, just making sure I'm keeping my feet and keeping a good base. Sometimes I'll get a little too excited and try to get into the block, so just make sure I keep a good base each time.”

Edge rusher Lorenzo Carter, who played on the Georgia Bulldogs team for a year with Thomas, remembers thinking that the then-freshman had start power.

“I knew from day 1 when he stepped on campus at Athens that he was going to be at the top, a first-round pick,” said Carter, who was one of the pass rushers who got the better of Thomas Tuesday night. 

“He's learned, grown and matured, and as a rookie, he’s come in that far advanced. So I know I got to bring it to Andrew because he’s ready and I gotta make sure he's ready for game one.”

Colombo, himself once a first-round draft pick who played tackle his entire NFL career, believes that in addition to Thomas' focus on cleaning up some of his technique issues, a key for the rookie's success is putting in the time to study his opponents.

“It’s going to be a premier pass rusher, so being able to study that rusher, know how to study him, know what his moves are, know everything that he’s thinking--those are some of the things that we’ve been working on and some of the things we’ve been talking about,” Colombo said.

“I love where Andrew is heading. Again, we have a long way to go, but he has the right mindset, he’s smart, he knows where some of his deficiencies are right now and he’s working every day to get better.”

Patricia Traina contributed to this report.

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