Tag: giants football

Former Georgia Bulldog is NFL’s highest graded player after four weeks

Former UGA offensive tackle Andrew Thomas is the NFL’s highest graded player to begin the season

Former Georgia Bulldogs offensive tackle Andrew Thomas is the NFL’s highest graded player, per Pro Football Focus, through the first four weeks of the 2022 NFL season.

The New York Giants selected Thomas with the fourth pick of the 2020 NFL draft. Thomas, like most rookies in the NFL, had some growing pains in his first year with the Giants. Thomas started 15 games as a rookie and improved significantly throughout his rookie campaign.

In 2021, Thomas started all 13 games where he was healthy enough to play. He’s played 100% of New York’s offensive snaps to start the 2022 NFL season.

Former Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Andrew Thomas has helped turn left tackle from a weakness to a strength for the New York Giants. Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

According to PFF, Thomas has a grade of 92.1. Thomas’ grade is the highest in the NFL through Week 4. The former Georgia standout has anchored the left side of New York’s offensive line. The Giants are off to a 3-1 start and have improved significantly this year under first-year head coach Brian Daboll.

The Giants face the Green Bay Packers in Week 5 in a London game.

Some folks questioned selected Andrew Thomas with the No. 4 pick of the 2020 NFL draft, however, Thomas is proving the doubters wrong with his consistent performances.

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Notre Dame in NFL: Golden Tate injures knee in practice

Former Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate injured his knee late in practice Thursday with the New York Giants. Further details here.

Things haven’t gone according to plan for the New York Giants in 2020 as they’ve stumbled to just a 2-7 record and even in the lowly NFC East, have their work cut out to make a playoff spot.

We can discuss another time how pathetic it is that the fact they’re still “in it” at this point.

Related:  Madden ’21 Ratings for Every Former Notre Dame Player

More bad news came the way of the Giants on Thursday though as wide receiver and 2009 Belitnikoff Award Winner at Notre Dame, Golden Tate, left practice with a knee injury.

There was no word on the extent of Tate’s injury but reports have him being further evaluated by the team’s medical staff as he was not available for the Zoom call through the Giants that he was previously scheduled to be a part of.

We will keep you posted on this developing story as will our friends at Giants Wire.

Tate has pulled down 22 receptions for 226 yards and two touchdowns this year while seeing action in seven games.

Giants part ways with former Georgia first round draft pick

The New York Giants announced today that they have released former first-round draft pick DeAndre Baker. 

The New York Giants announced today that they have released former first-round draft pick DeAndre Baker.

Baker, 23, was charged with four counts of armed robbery last month after allegedly committing the robbery at a house party in Miramar, Florida last May.

Seattle defensive back Quinton Dunbar also surrendered to police in May but was not charged due to lack of evidence. Both Baker and Dunbar were placed on the commissioner’s exempt list but Dunbar was removed from the list in August.

The Giants selected the former Georgia Bulldog all-American with the 30th overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. He played in 16 games last season, starting the final 15. Baker had a dissapointing rookie season and he finished the season with 61 tackles and 8 pass breakups. Baker was expected to start at cornerback for New York this season. New Yourk paid dearly for Baker, trading the 37th, 132nd and 142nd overall selections in the 2019 draft to the Seattle Seahawks in order to draft the cornerback.

Checking in on Andrew Thomas’ Twitter after being drafted by the Giants

A look at former Georgia football OT Andrew Thomas’ Twitter account after being picked by the New York Giants at #4 in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Former Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas became the highest picked offensive lineman in UGA history when he was selected by the New York Giants at #4 overall on Thursday night.

In the hours following the selection, Thomas started to show some love to his new team and fans, making a series of posts on Twitter and Instagram.

Let’s check in on his social media:

Checking in on Andrew Thomas’ Twitter after being drafted by the Giants

A look at former Georgia football OT Andrew Thomas’ Twitter account after being picked by the New York Giants at #4 in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Former Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas became the highest picked offensive lineman in UGA history when he was selected by the New York Giants at No. 4 overall on Thursday night.

In the hours following the selection, Thomas started to show some love to his new team and fans, making a series of posts on Twitter and Instagram.

Let’s check in on his social media:

How former UGA OT Andrew Thomas fits with New York Giants

Here is how we see Georgia football OT Andrew Thomas fitting in with his new team, the New York Giants.

The New York Giants decided not to trade away the No. 4 overall pick and instead took Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas to protect quarterback Daniel Jones and create holes for running back Saquon Barkley.

The Giants needed help on both sides of the offensive line, so the selection  of the 6-foot-5 315 pound Thomas will provide immediate help.

Where he’ll be in ten years from now is unknown, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart referred to him as a 12-14 year starter earlier today on the NFL Network.

Joe Judge is in his first season as head coach of the Giants, and being able to add a consistent, no-nonsense player like Thomas to the locker room is a huge relief.

Thomas was a three year starter at Georgia and served as team captain in 2019. He is a leader that the franchise needed both on the field in the locker room.

The Giants will look to get the ball into Barkley’s hands as much as possible, and Thomas is about as good as it gets in run blocking, haven blocked for Sony Michel, Nick Chubb and D’Andre Swift in his three years at Georgia.

From Giants Wire:

Thomas brings a lot of power to the run game. His power, length and tenacity with a mauler’s attitude should help the Giants on the right side of the line. It is likely that with Nate Solder still under contract that Thomas starts out on the right side with the projection to move to left tackle in the future.

Andrew Thomas becomes UGA football’s highest picked OL ever

Georgia Bulldogs offensive tackle Andrew Thomas was selected fourth overall by the New York Giants.

Georgia Bulldogs offensive tackle Andrew Thomas was selected fourth overall by the New York Giants. Thomas declared for the NFL Draft as a junior and is now the highest picked offensive lineman in Georgia history.

Andrew Thomas passes Royce Smith (sixth overall pick) as the earliest selected UGA offensive lineman ever:

Thomas is an extremely talented prospect. He joins Isaiah Wynn as the second Georgia offensive lineman to be drafted in the first round in the past three seasons. Both Thomas and Wynn played on the same offensive line that helped Georgia make the 2018 College Football Playoff.

The New York Giants get their left tackle in Andrew Thomas. Thomas will be GM Dave Gettleman’s latest hog molly.

In college, Thomas went up against elite competition in the SEC. Thomas has blocked numerous players who will or are in the NFL including Alabama’s Quinnen Williams, Kentucky’s Josh Allen, LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson, and many more.

Thomas has NFL size and durability. He started three seasons at UGA and will look to bring that consistency to the Giants. He only missed one game due to injury. Thomas excels in both the pass and run game.

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Once considered a bust, Giants CB Deandre Baker turning it on

Former Georgia football CB Deandre Baker was once seen as a bust, but is now turning it on for the New York Giants.

Deandre Baker is one of the best defensive backs in the history of Georgia football. He simply locked down every wide receiver that he ever faced off against in college.

The New York Giants used a first round pick on Baker, hoping his lockdown skills would translate to the NFL.

For the first half of the NFL season, it was not looking good for Baker or the Giants. He was getting beat regularly, giving up a ton of room to receivers to make easy catches and was being targeted by opposing quarterbacks.

But that was then.

Now, Baker has been playing like one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

Good for Baker, a former Jim Thorpe Award winner who is now playing like we knew he could.

Being a first round draft pick yields a lot of pressure, and one guy who knows a lot about that pressure is Giants running back Saquon Barkley.

Barkley talked with the New York Post about Baker and his rookie season.

“When you come in as a first-rounder, everyone sets expectations for you and there are expectations that you set for yourself and the kind of player you want to be,’’ Barkley told The Post on Friday. “Bake comes in every single day and works to get better and better. Obviously, he probably didn’t start the season how he would like to start his career. But these last couple weeks, he’s been playing lights out. He was a big reason why we got our first win in a while last week.’’