One Man Stands as NY Giants' Biggest X-factor Ahead of Upcoming Season

The latter one on the front of everyone’s mind as the preseason winds down being starting left tackle Andrew Thomas, who has been cautiously withheld from the Giants’ summer action as he finishes rehab for a Lisfranc injury suffered last season, and in many cases is the most important piece to the puzzle in the Giants’ quest for relevance again. 

While there could be a debate to hand this status to other key players such as Malik Nabers or Abdul Carter, who will have big roles on both sides this season, pinning the stalwart blindside blocker as the Giants’ biggest x-factor just seems too obvious. 

Since he was drafted fourth overall in 2020, the Giants’ offensive line’s success in pass protection has largely gone only as far as Thomas’ presence on the left edge has taken them. In that span, he’s been the team’s highest graded linemen against the pass rush by significant margins and has been one of the few young guys who’s grown better each year.

The lone exception came in Thomas’s rookie season, where he faced some of the typical struggles that come with a young player acclimating to better competition in the NFL. Otherwise, he has been nearly flawless in his role, allowing no more than four sacks and 21 total pressures in the last four years, of which he did not work a full slate of games due to injuries.

Last season, the factor of Thomas’ health, or lack thereof, was front and center in how the Giants' offense collapsed down the stretch of their disastrous 3-14 campaign. New York was one of the stronger pass-blocking units in the league for the first six weeks, not wowing opponents with an onslaught of points, yet at least keeping the quarterback fairly upright.

They had only one game with more than three sacks taken and were giving the quarterback extra time to throw the football, even if Jones’ documented processing woes sometimes got in the way of progress.

As soon as Thomas went down with the foot ailment in Week 6 against the Bengals, the lid would come off the bottle, and the offensive landslide for the entire unit would follow the rest of the way. The Giants would rack up 48 sacks by the end of 2024, albeit an improvement from the previous year, and drop to 26th in team pass block win rate.

The proof is all there in the numbers that Thomas is a critical component of how high the Giants' offense can strive to reach in the 2025 season. As he enters his sixth season with the franchise, the All-Pro’s health remains a lingering concern, with the organization holding onto the hope that he’ll be ready and up to physical shape to go from the jump in Week 1. 

In the meantime, they are doing their due diligence to create as many potential lineups that could hold down the fort for Russell Wilson and the offense to be more explosive. The most notable being the move for Evan Neal into the right guard spot, for which the former first-round pick has shown some promising strides that could earn the trust of the coaching staff to get back in the starting fold. 

No matter the talents at their disposal, a look back at recent history leaves one to believe that the Giants’ lax potential as a fluid huddle reside in the situation at left tackle with Thomas being able to stay on the field for an entire 17-game window, something he hasn’t done since the 2022 season when the Giants saw rare success in a 9-7-1 year and postseason berth. 

At the very least, they need to win more games for the Brian Daboll era to persist beyond this fall. The postseason is merely a secondary goal at this point until we see how Thomas returns to the offense and they start to gel in full game action in the coming weeks. 

For now, everyone in East Rutherford should keep their fingers crossed that his return to the game is a classic form when the regular season opens up. The offensive line has shown some flashes in the preseason, but it still feels like there is a chasm on one end waiting to be filled by the Giants' biggest x-factor, who is awaiting his return to the throne as well.

What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.