Andrew Thomas is ready to lead Giants' new physical offensive line

The New York Giants began the first three of a scheduled 10 organized team activities (OTAs) this week, the first look we've gotten at the team under new head coach John Harbaugh. One aspect to focus on is players who are coming back from, or "managing," injuries. Starting left tackle Andrew Thomas is in the latter group, and this week, he practiced just two of the three days.

The Giants are being very careful with Thomas, who has yet to play a full 17 games in a season. Last year, Thomas played in just 13 games and six the season before, mainly due to a Lisfranc fracture. This year, Thomas hopes to be available for the full run.

But for him to do that, he's going to have to pick his spots on when to practice to be ready for game days. The Giants will make sure not to overuse him during the week. "They have a nice ramp-up planned for me.

Just a precautionary thing," Thomas told reporters on Thursday after it was revealed that he was also nursing a previously undisclosed shoulder issue. "Obviously, what we care about is September, being ready, so I've been trusting that... It's definitely tough sometimes because I want to push it and I want to get better, but I'm trying to trust the process to make sure I'm ready to go when it counts.