The New York Giants and left tackle Andrew Thomas have restructured his contract to open up an additional. $12.2 million in cap space, per multiple reports on Thursday.
With it, the Giants are now cap-compliant by the start of the regular season, which kicks off Thursday night. Big Blue was roughly $8 million in the red just days before their season.
Altering the five-year, $117 million deal is a vote of confidence from the Giants that they still believe in the star offensive lineman, who has been hampered by injuries as of late. He has missed 18 games over the past two seasons, and his status for Week 1 against the Washington Commanders is still unknown as he continues to recover from a Lisfranc injury in his foot that required surgery last October.
After practicing on Wednesday, in which head coach Brian Daboll said he “looked good,” Thomas was held out of Thursday’s ramp-up, stating that this is a part of the plan. The team will see where he is on Friday before making a call on his Week 1 status.
It would be surprising if he does play, regardless of how good he looked mid-week. The 26-year-old did not take a single 11-on-11 rep during the preseason, and throwing him into the fire of a season opener on the road against a team that made the NFC Championship Game last year is a monumental ask.
Still, Thomas is one of the best tackles in the game, and his presence has usually bodes well for the Giants. When he is in the lineup, New York scores an average of 19.5 points per game. When he’s out of the lineup, the offense averages 12.3 points per game.
If Thomas is unable to go on Sunday, James Hudson will be responsible for watching Russell Wilson’s blind side. This is the 26-year-old’s first season with the Giants after appearing in 49 games over four seasons with the Cleveland Browns.
