Brian Daboll explains Andrew Thomas' absence from camp
The New York Giants offensive line has become a point of contention for their faithful fanbase, but Andrew Thomas has been their guiding light since entering the league.
The former Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman has elevated to become one of the best offensive tackles in the entire league since New York drafted him at No. 4 overall. He’s been rewarded with a mammoth extension, and he’ll be a member of Big Blue for a long, long time, it seems.
However, some concern arose when pictures from the Giants’ camp hit social media, and Thomas wasn’t working with his fellow lineman. Giants head coach Brian Daboll put everyone at ease though, revealing Thomas isn’t injured, the team is just working through developing different players across their line.
“Different guys are at different spots. We’re doing different things,” Daboll said, regarding Thomas’ absence from camp thus far, speaking with the media on Friday afternoon. “He’ll be in the 11-on-11 today.”
That’s probably a smart move from the Giants perspective. Last season, Thomas missed some time with a nagging hamstring injury, and New York was forced to try to fit a square peg in a round hole while replacing Thomas. It didn’t go well, and the injury completely derailed their offense over the first half of the season.
Having a contingency plan is a must for the Giants and Thomas in 2024. They’ll be relying heavily on the star offensive lineman when he’s on the field, but if he has to miss any time, New York is looking to prepare themselves adequately this time around.
Daniel Jones is ‘still making progress’ in recovery, per Brian Daboll
In other news pertaining to the New York Giants, after another week of working back from a knee injury that ended his 2023 campaign, Daniel Jones is looking to get back to leading the New York Giants during the 2024 NFL season.
With that in mind, Giants head coach Brian Daboll is hoping we see more of Jones’ 2022 form, ahead of the duo’s third season together. That was the season that convinced a new regime that the former Duke Blue Devils quarterback was the one to lead the Giants for the foreseeable future.
However, some major injuries have kept Jones out over the last year, a neck injury suffered against the Miami Dolphins caused him to miss about a month, and the torn ACL suffered against the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023 ended his campaign.
He’s looking like recovery is going well if you go off of social media videos, but Daboll spoke with reporters about Jones’ progress on Friday, and where the quarterback currently stands.
“He’s still making progress,” Daboll said on Friday, regarding the former first-round pick’s injury status. “He’ll be in for 7-on-7 today. That’s kind of been the plan, all along. We’ll re-assess after this week. But he’s coming along, making progress.”
Alas, Thomas will be vital to Daniel Jones’ potential success in 2024, and the success of the New York Giants as a whole. We’ll see if they can mimic their 2023 performances throughout this coming season.