Andrew Thomas signs contract extension with Giants

Under general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll, the Giants continue to secure the futures of some of their best players.

On Wednesday, it was left tackle Andrew Thomas who received a monster deal, signing a five-year, $117.5 million extension that includes $67 million fully guaranteed at signing, the most ever for an offensive lineman.

Thomas said he was both grateful and motivated by the new deal.

“It’s a blessing to be in this position,” he said. “I’m excited to be here for a while.”

The total guarantees the Giants have given out this year — on deals with Thomas, Daniel Jones and Dexter Lawrence — have reached $208 million.

Thomas is a success story for the Giants. He struggled early in his career but worked diligently to improve. He recently was ranked 10th on Pro Football Focus’ top 25 players under 25 years of age.

Thomas was the fourth overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Georgia by then-GM Dave Gettleman.

X marks a leader

Perhaps the edgiest player on the Giants is safety Xavier McKinney [That’s not a bad thing].

And McKinney clearly fits defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s scheme.

With safety Julian Love now in Seattle, McKinney was asked if he feels “like you need to take a step up in leadership?”

To which, McKinney said: “No, I’ve always been a leader.”

It will help, McKinney agreed, that many defensive players are now so fluent in Martindale’s scheme.

“We know what he wants to do, how he wants to call things, and we know how he wants it to look," McKinney said.

The second year with Martindale should allow returning players to play free.

Asked if the defense has an identity yet, McKinney said: “Yeah, I think we have always had an identity. We’ve had an identity, to me, since I got in the league. Pretty much it’s still the core guys, really thinking on it. Like I said, we have always had an identity.”

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.