Although the Giants had the opportunity to keep Andrew Thomas on his rookie contract through the 2024 season, they will add the ascending left tackle to their list of newly extended talents. Thomas agreed to terms on a five-year extension Wednesday morning.
After giving Daniel Jones and Dexter Lawrence big-ticket deals earlier this year, Big Blue is coming in with a deal that will make Thomas the NFL’s second-highest-paid offensive lineman. Thomas signed a five-year, $117.5MM extension, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports. While Thomas’ deal falls short of Laremy Tunsil‘s $25MM-AAV mark that emerged earlier this year, Schefter adds the fourth-year blocker secured an O-line-record $67MM guaranteed. The Giants have announced the extension.
The Giants selected Thomas fourth overall in 2020 and picked up his fifth-year option in the spring. During an offseason in which the team was unable to come to terms with Saquon Barkley on a long-term agreement, the Giants have reached extension pacts with three more Dave Gettleman-era cornerstones. Joe Schoen has authorized a $40MM-per-year Jones deal and a $22.5MM-AAV Lawrence re-up. Two months after Lawrence’s agreement, Thomas is now the Giants’ second-highest-paid player.
These terms come after Thomas built on his 2021 rebound season last year, earning his first All-Pro nod. The Georgia alum earned second-team All-Pro acclaim for his work in the Giants’ surprise playoff season. After struggling as a rookie, Thomas has become the Giants’ cornerstone left tackle. This agreement solidifies that status.
The prospect of an early Thomas extension surfaced in April, but teams as a rule wait until first-rounders’ contract years before reaching long-term agreements. Several players have bucked that trend, though the Giants had never previously made such an investment. But Thomas, 24, joined that group Wednesday. In the fifth-year option era, Thomas is only the fifth tackle to sign an extension with two rookie-contract years remaining.
Instead of being tied to a $1MM base salary and a $4MM roster bonus for 2023, Thomas beat Ronnie Stanley‘s guarantee mark by nearly $3MM. That is an impressive feat, considering the Ravens left tackle’s guaranteed-at-signing term paced the field by nearly $15MM. Thomas’ AAV comes in just ahead of Trent Williams‘ $23MM number, which the 49ers signed off on in March 2021. With the salary cap on the rise, Thomas will be one of the players to benefit.
It took Thomas giving up considerable control over his career to make this windfall possible, however. This extension locks down the Giants’ cornerstone left tackle through the 2029 season. Tunsil has twice managed to secure market-resetting extensions on three-year accords, and while Thomas could have increased his leverage by entering a contract year in 2024, the Giants put together an early proposal he could not refuse. Thomas’ 2023 cap hit will drop from $10.3MM to around $5MM, Dan Duggan of The Athletic tweets.
Struggling to fill their left tackle post since their Super Bowl XLVI group splintered in the early 2010s, the Giants have seen their Thomas bet pay off. The team had used a top-10 pick on Ereck Flowers and given Nate Solder a position-record deal in March 2018. Neither move worked. When Solder opted out of the 2020 season, that opened the door for Thomas, who initially was set to begin his career at right tackle. When Solder returned in 2021, Thomas did not move off his blindside spot.
After Thomas’ rough rookie season, Pro Football Focus graded him as a top-20 tackle in 2021. Last season, PFF ranked Thomas third among all tackles; ESPN’s pass block win rate metric slotted him 10th at the position. The Giants will bet on many more productive years, and Thomas will take the early cash rather than try the Tunsil approach. Due to this agreement, it will be a while before Thomas becomes an extension candidate again. He, Lawrence and Jones are each signed through at least 2026.
Barkley should hold out or ask to be traded to a different team next offseason
Why? He’ll still be a RB with an up and down injury history and one year older, which is not valued nearly as much as a stud blindside left tackle.
Why? He’ll still be a running back with an up-and-down injury history, as well as one year older, which is not valued in the NFL nearly as much as a stud, blindside/left tackle.
It got leveon bell 2 guaranteed big pay seasons after sitting a full year.
Giants should franchise Barkley again next season, if he performs well this yr. He already signed the franchise tag and is in camp.
I may be misremembering, but I don’t think he signed the tag. He signed a contact slightly above the tag.
Good call, so they can tag home twice more, you think?
I don’t believe so. I think once you slap the tag on whether it is signed or not that counts as a tag offer. So they would only be able to tag him once more next year.
Okay…how long until Thomas starts complaining that he’s “underpaid” and wants a new contract?
Can’t wait to hear Mike Tannenbaum cry about how Andrew Thomas should have given money back to take care of Barkley. Still waiting for him to address his awful “Jets should draft Hendon Hooker at 13” take
Yikes, don’t you have other pundit options to listen to? Sounds like torture
He was doing a segment on Michael Kay show. They eviscerated Tannenbaum. It was great