With 10 days until the Giants open their season on the road against the Commanders, concerns about left tackle Andrew Thomas’ status are not dissipating.
Rather, Thomas, who suffered a Lisfranc injury last October, missed the rest of the season after getting surgery and missed nearly all of training camp, said Thursday he was “not sure yet” whether he’ll play against the Commanders.
“I haven’t really done a ton of reps,” he said. “I’ve done some [individual drills], took some one-on-one reps. I’m just trying to progress slowly, so we’ll see. But like I said, I’m not making any projections right now.”
Losing Thomas, one of their best players, for any period would be a major blow to the Giants, who would likely turn to James Hudson III in his absence. With Thomas playing just six games last season, the Giants allowed 48 sacks, ranking 21st in the league.
After speaking with a bigger group of reporters Thursday, Thomas also told The Athletic that he had a second surgery in April to have the screw that was inserted into his foot in October removed, adding to his recovery timeline.
Thomas participated in practice on Wednesday with pads, but did not take any reps with the team. He sat Thursday, but described himself as “feeling good.”
The plan is for Thomas to test his foot on Friday by doing some hard running and see how he responds the next day. That will determine what he can do next week in practice, per The Post’s Paul Schwartz.
Coach Brian Daboll declined to say anything meaningful about Thomas’ status when asked Thursday.
“He’s day to day. He’s getting better every day,” Daboll said. “Sometimes we pull back off of him the next day. He’s doing everything he can do to be as ready as he can be.”
Thomas said it’s expected that he’ll need to manage soreness, but reinjury is a concern.
“I’m not trying to give myself a deadline,” he said. “Obviously I want to be back, but if I don’t feel comfortable to be able to perform at the level I think I can, I don’t think it makes sense for me to be out there.”
Since soreness is a given, it’s a challenge for Thomas and his doctors to figure out whether on a given day it’s something that can be managed or a sign the situation is worsening.
“For you to progress, you need stress, but you also don’t want to push too much and then you’re down for three or four days because it’s too sore,” Thomas said. “So I’ve been working with the strength staff and the coaches and trainers just trying to figure out what’s the best plan of action.”
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Thomas said he’s spoken with former Giants center Shaun O’Hara about his recovery from a similar injury and that there will likely be some pain management to deal with throughout the season.
“It’s just a tough injury for heavier guys,” Thomas said. “You’ll have projections of when they think you’ll be back, but for bigger guys, a lot of times it just takes longer and that’s what [O’Hara] said. It took him nine or 10 months to get through some of the pain and stuff, and throughout the season he dealt with some stuff too.”
It’s not yet clear whether playing just some of the game in Week 1 could be a possibility for Thomas, but he said Thursday that option hasn’t yet been discussed. He declined to say whether going through a padded practice with the team is a necessity before playing in a game.
“I think that’s something I guess I’ll have to cross when I get there,” Thomas said. “I’m not really sure. I think mentally I’ll be fine. I understand the offense, what I have to do, but there is some of that, just the conditioning, taking reps and feeling like myself.”