Andrew Thomas highest graded player by PFF so far this season
Believe it or not but we’re a quarter of the way through the NFL regular season and almost at the halfway mark for College Football. Through all that time, the highest graded player according to Pro Football Focus has been former Georgia offensive lineman Andrew Thomas, now of the New York Giants.
Thomas is in his third season with the G-Men and has played in 33 career games, starting 32 of those. After being drafted No. 4 overall out of Georgia in 2020, Thomas started off his rookie season as the team’s left tackle. He was benched for one week six games in before regaining the job the next week and starting for the remainder of the season. The next year, he once again ran into Week 6 troubles, this time injuring his ankle and missing some time. He was activated about a month later and scored a touchdown in his return with a 2-yard reception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During the offseason, Thomas had surgery to repair that same left ankle but has not missed any time so far this season.
During his time at Georgia, Thomas also saw early success. As a true freshman, he started every game at right tackle for the Bulldogs on their way to an SEC Championship and a National Championship Game appearance. He earned Freshman All-American accolades that year. Thomas made the move over to left tackle the following season and started every game he played in, being named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week after a 331-yard rushing day from the Dawgs against Kentucky. Thomas was also named a First-Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC after the season. He would follow that up with another First-Team All-SEC season and unanimous All-American honors in 2019, winning the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as well.
Thomas isn’t the only former Georgia offensive lineman recognized by Pro Football Focus recently…
In fact, it was his high school teammate and best friend Jamaree Salyer that was the highest rated offensive lineman from this past week. Making his first career start for the Los Angeles Chargers, Salyer graded out at 90.4 for pass blocking as he and the Chargers didn’t allow a sack on quarterback Justin Herbert. For that, Salyer received one of the team’s game balls after the win over the Houston Texans. Thomas came in strong at No. 2 behind Salyer with an 88.5 grade for the week.
Both Thomas and Salyer were highly rated players coming out of Pace Academy in Atlanta, Ga. Thomas was the No. 59 overall player and the No. 10 offensive tackle according to the On3 Consensus in 2017 while Salyer, a five-star, was No. 13 overall and No. 1 among interior offensive linemen.
