Tag: giants news

New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas’s pro comparison

The New York Giants picked Georgia Bulldogs left tackle Andrew Thomas fourth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Who is his pro comparison?

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The New York Giants picked Georgia Bulldogs left tackle Andrew Thomas fourth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Thomas started for three seasons at the University of Georgia. He’s a winner who helped Georgia make three straight SEC championship games.

Thomas should fit in well for the Giants. New York fans can expect him to start right away. Thomas didn’t post elite numbers at the NFL Combine, but his tape speaks for itself.

So who are NFL Draft experts comparing rookie New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas to?

NFL.com compares Thomas to Denver Broncos right tackle Ja’Wuan James, who was originally a first round pick of the Miami Dolphins. Ja’Wuan James is a former Tennessee Volunteer, who signed a massive four year, $51 million dollar deal last off-season to join the Denver Broncos.

WalterFootball considers former New York Jets offensive tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson to be the best NFL comparison to Andrew Thomas. Ferguson was the fourth pick of the 2006 NFL Draft. Ferguson was a three-time Pro Bowl selection, who played ten NFL seasons without missing a start. Giants fans will be ecstatic if Thomas turns out this to have a career like Ferguson.

Lastly, The Draft Network compares Thomas to current Jaguars offensive tackle Cam Robinson. Robinson played for the Alabama Crimson Tide in college. He has started in the NFL when healthy and was the 34th pick of the 2017 NFL Draft.

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NY Giants fans, get to know your new OT Andrew Thomas

New York Giants fans, get to know your new offensive tackle Andrew Thomas out of Georgia football.

With the fourth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the New York Giants took Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas.

Thomas has been considered the top rated offensive tackle in this draft class since the start of last season, and on Thursday the Giants made it official, making him the first tackle off the board.

Giants fans, you may have wanted a pick with a little more pop to it, but as far as offensive linemen go, he’s as good as it gets.

Thomas came to Georgia as a 4-star recruit out of Pace Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Thomas was ranked as the nation’s No. 45 overall player and as the ninth ranked offensive tackle in the class of 2017.

He enrolled at Georgia on May 30, 2017 and never looked back.

He was a day one starter for the red and black, originally creating holes for tailbacks Nick Chubb and Sony Michel en route to a College Football Playoff berth and eventually a shot at the national title.

He’s done it on the biggest stage week in and week out, going up against the country’s most elite pass rushers in the SEC.

He rarely lost a battle, and there’s proof of it in this footage of Georgia vs LSU in the 2019 SEC Championship Game where Thomas shut down defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson, a projected top-15 pick, all day long.

While on the NFL Network today, Georgia coach Kirby Smart said that Thomas is a guy who will be a 12-14 year starter in the pros and that no tackle in this class has done it at a higher level than Thomas has over the last three years.

Thomas’ skills extend way beyond the football field, though. For as long as he can remember, Thomas has had a strong interest in music. He’s a talented pianist and drummer, and in high school he actually played with the marching band. That made his Pace Academy pep rallies difficult sometimes, as he would take part with both the band and the team.

Giants fans, trust me, you got a good one.

Twitter reacts to Andrew Thomas going 4th to New York Giants

Twitter reacted as the New York Giants took Georgia football OT Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick.

With the 4th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected Georgia Bulldogs offensive tackle Andrew Thomas.

Thomas at No. 4 came following the selections of Joe Burrow to the Bengals, Chase Young to the Redskins and Jeff Okudah to the Lions.

Thomas had been considered the top offensive tackle of this draft class all offseason, and on Thursday the Giants confirmed that by making him the top tackle off the board.

Thomas becomes the second consecutive Georgia player selected in the first round by the Giants. Last year, New York took former Georgia cornerback Deandre Baker with the 30th pick.

Twitter blew up with the selection, and we have some of the reactions here:

Report: Giants CB Deandre Baker fell asleep during meetings as a rookie

Former Georgia football CB Deandre Baker reportedly fell asleep multiple times during meetings as a rookie with the NY Giants.

The New York Giants traded back in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft to select Georgia cornerback Deandre Baker with the 30th overall pick.

Coming out Athens, Baker was viewed as one of the best lockdown defensive backs in the draft-class after having a sensational 2018 season in which he won the Jim Thorpe Award, awarded to college football’s top defensive back.

But Baker struggled to adjust to the NFL game during his rookie season, with opposing quarterbacks often picking on the Miami native.

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.

Apparently, it was not only on the field where Baker struggled.

According to a report from ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, it was “not uncommon” for Baker to fall asleep during Giants’ team or position group meetings.

Baker’s rookie season was rocky, to say the least. At one point, he got called out in a team meeting, and his seven touchdowns allowed as the nearest defender was tied for fourth in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats. There are questions about Baker’s desire to be great. Sleeping in meetings was not uncommon.

It should be noted, however, that Baker actually turned it on in the later part of the season for the Giants.

We touched on that last December here. 

If put in a situation to succeed and coached properly, Baker has all the tools to be on the league’s elite cornerbacks.

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.’’