NY Giants rookie OT Andrew Thomas was benched Sunday, but it was not due to his inconsistent performance in his first five games
NY Giants rookie offensive tackle Andrew Thomas was benched for the start of Sunday’s 20-19 win over the Washington Football Team, out of punishment not lack of production.
Head coach Joe Judge revealed following Sunday’s game that Thomas had violated team policy.
“It wasn’t anything malicious, disobedient, or disrespectful,” Judge said. “But he made a mistake and mistakes have consequences.”
A league source tells GMenHQ that Judge, a new head coach, was hoping to “hold players accountable” and not letting anything slip through the cracks, leading to Thomas’ benching.
Shortly after the game, Thomas released a statement through the Giants’ PR department explaining he was late to a meeting.
“I was late for our meeting last night,” Thomas said. “Coach Judge always talks about actions have consequences, and I take responsibility for my actions and the consequences. It won’t happen again.”
Thomas wound up getting into the game and rotating with fellow rookie, third-round draft choice Matt Peart, and had an up and down performance against Washington rookie defensive end Chase Young.
“I thought he did well,” Daniel Jones said of Thomas. “That’s something he’ll learn from. As teammates, we support him. He’s a mature guy. He’s a guy who can step up and he stepped in and played well, when he got back out there. I have all the confidence in the world in him. Our job is to support him.”
It has been a rough start to his career, for Thomas, who entered Sunday, According to Pro Football Focus, having already surrendered four sacks, 28 pressures, and three quarterback hits in 319 total snaps.
Judge has rotated Peart into games the last several weeks, primarily at right tackle with Cam Fleming, so it will be interesting to see if that continues on Thursday night against the Eagles, or if Thomas will return to the starting lineup.
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.