No surgery needed for Giants' Terrell Thomas

ALBANY -- Tom Coughlin had been holding out hope that Terrell Thomas would be able to play this season, even, as he said last week, in the face of what doctors were telling him. On Monday he received what he agreed was the best-case scenario for the Giants cornerback.

Thomas will not require surgery on the ACL injury he suffered last weekend. Instead, he will return to the team and rehab the injury with an aim of getting back on the field. Where once Thomas' season and career both seemed on the verge of being over, now there is tremendous hope that he'll be able to play a full and productive 2012.

"He's coming back to camp, he'll jump into a rehab program, we'll watch him very very closely, we'll hopefully accelerate his strengthening of the knee and see how soon he can join us," Coughlin said after practice Monday. "We'll hope for the very best."

Coughlin was on the field with the team at practice in the afternoon when Thomas apparently tried calling him with the good news. Coughlin was briefed by the team's training staff after the workout.

Thomas did not undergo an arthroscopic procedure to determine the severity of the injury, which the Giants thought he might. He consulted with his surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting of California, last week and visited Dr. James Andrews Monday.

"The consensus, the idea, is that they would rehab Terrell and see if we can't get him to a position where he can come back on the field," Coughlin said of what came from the doctors' opinions. "That's what we're going to do."

Coughlin had no timeline for Thomas' return to play cornerback this season. "I wouldn't even try to guess that one," he said. But when asked if this is the best possible outcome after more than a week of worrying about Thomas' short -- and long-term future, Coughlin said: "I think it is. I think that's the best way to put it."

Thomas is coming off reconstructive ACL surgery that he had last September. He rehabbed and returned to the field at the start of training camp. He had to come out of his first practice with the team on July 27 due to back spasms, practiced fully on July 28, and then slipped in coverage during a one-on-one drill against Domenik Hixon on July 29. The following day -- a week ago Monday -- he reported swelling in his knee and was sent for an MRI.

The prognosis at that point was a gloomy one and there was concern that Thomas might require another ACL reconstruction, the third in his career. For now, that won't be the case.

"He feels very positive about it," said Coughlin, who spoke with Thomas during the weekend before his appointment with Dr. Andrews. "He told me before he left that he really doesn't have any pain, does not feel instability, the knee was not swollen. So he went down and Dr. Andrews pretty much agreed with what the other doctors had said and what they felt was let's try to rehab him and see how far . . . see if we can get him right back on the field."