Make him get it.

By all means, give Andrew Thomas direct access to compete for an initial job as a beginner. Anything less than Thomas lined up with the first team for the Giants on the opening day will be disappointing for the first round election.

Prepare Thomas to play, faster, better, better Sunday 1 against the Steelers in “Monday Night Football” – if the NFL starts according to schedule. Make sure he starts his NFL career in the right tackle, even though he was chosen to be the left tackle of the future.

Something that is obtained always means more than something given. If the Giants don’t have a left tackle that still serves, placing Thomas as a tent in the offensive line makes sense. After all, he spent the last two seasons in Georgia on the left tackle after playing right tackle in his first year. His body type, long arms, and superbly developed techniques all scream “overcoming his natural left.” However, this increase can wait.

“A very solid boy, a hungry boy, he doesn’t even feel like he has arrived,” Shaun O’Hara, a former Giants center and currently an NFL Network analyst, told The Post. “It’s good for someone like him to come in and, ‘No, you won’t go to tackle, you play right tackle.’ You have to get the left tackle. “

Nate Solder enters the 10th NFL season, and third with the Giants. He spent the last eight years starting from handling the left. It makes no sense to take a 32-year-old veteran who is entrenched on the left side and move it to the right to accommodate 21-year-old players. Solder needs to take steps to revive a career that took a step back in 2019 – when he resumed all 16 matches but in 1,011 photos allowed 11 sacks, according to Pro Football Focus, which is rated as No. No. 45 tackle in the league.

Solder at the end of last season said, “I will do anything to be successful in this team” in response to making a step in the right direction. “If they ask me to spin the hula hoop in my head, I’ll do it.”

Attitude and compliance are never a problem with Solder; performance is what the Giants need from him now.

Will Hernandez enters his third NFL season, and what he gets from playing with Solder for 32 matches must be continued, uninterrupted by moving Solder. At least some of Solder’s struggles over the past two years can be tracked to help Hernandez learn everything. The more they march, the better for both of them.

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Placing Thomas in the right position allows him to break in next to Kevin Zeitler – who is 30 years old, weighing 330 pounds of granite. Zeitler is as good as they are, and Thomas will benefit from everything the veterans have to offer.

Ereck Flowers – despite having severe deficiencies with her technique, especially the way she positioned and used her hands – started from Day 1 as a beginner in 2015, on the left tackle. Bunga won the job in the training camp, but in reality there was no real competition. Flowers enter by default, ready or not.

“I hate mentioning her name because it brings back bad memories, but the worst thing that happened to Ereck Flowers was she started as a rookie on the left tackle,” O’Hara said. “Once you start as a beginner, that first year you can’t say anything to him, because he’s already playing. That’s him. He doesn’t listen to anyone. It’s good you have a guy in Andrew Thomas who is still hungry.”

This is not where you start, it is where you finish. Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden, the overall No. 4 draft pick in 1996, actually started his NFL career with Ravens in the left guard before moving to left tackle in the second season. Tyron Smith, pick No. 9 in 2011, starting with the right tackles as a beginner – Jason Garrett, Giants offensive coordinator, was Smith’s head coach with the Cowboys – before becoming the remaining seven Pro Bowl tackles.

First-year Giants coach Joe Judge said Thomas, and all the tackles, would compete on both sides.

“This is not the finish line, this is the starting point,” Hakim said.

The former Giants guard, Chris Snee, a member of the Ring of Honor team, staked out and studied Thomas in his previous role as an offensive line analyst for Jaguar.

“I really like Thomas,” Snee said. “Safest choice. Technically a strong player, strength, will fit into any scheme, he plays in the toughest league. As far as technique goes, he is what you are looking for from the left tackle position. “

Thomas will finally go to the left side. Good things come to those who wait.