Dave Gettleman Defends Work Done on New York Giants O-Line
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman showed up for his scheduled Zoom call, looking and sounding a bit more tired than usual. But when it came to discussing the Giants offensive line, a unit that's headed into another round of revisions, that's when the 70-year old general manager seemed to perk up.
In particular, Gettleman was asked about the pace the offensive line rebuild is taking and how even after three years of working on the unit, it was ranked 31st by Pro Football Focus.
Gettleman, who probably doesn't put much stock in other people's rankings, did address the pace of the offensive line's rebuild, saying, “We’ve talked about that. I went to Carolina and it worked out well, it worked out quickly. We all want things to happen fast. Just for what it’s worth, in terms of where our offensive line is, they’re young and they’re talented. Things take time.”
The frustrations with the offensive line rebuild are understandable. The Giants are going into Year 4 under Gettleman and are still not settled on the offensive line. They'll need to replace Cam Fleming--presumably, Matt Peart will compete for that role, though under no circumstances should he be handed the job.
And then there are questions about the guards, as depending on what happens with Will Hernandez and Kevin Zeitler, the Giants could have three more new starters, joining last year's holdovers Andrew Thomas at left tackle and Nick Gates at center.
When one continues to churn over the unit's faces, that does not necessarily translate to progress; instead, it is trying to find the right combination until it works.
This is why the offensive line rebuild is so frustrating. The offensive line should have been put in place long before this team drafted its next franchise quarterback and then decided to splurge on a running back.
With the rookie contract windows of both Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley coming to a close, it's rather disturbing that we've yet to see the full breadth of what each man can do behind a competent offensive line that's had an opportunity to settle down and jell.
But Gettleman is optimistic that the line will get there.
“We believe in these guys, they all came along, we finished the season fairly strong. One of the things that I would say to you is we were 4-2 in our division and if you look at our division, all of those defensive lines that we play, all those fronts are big, powerful, athletic defensive lines and our guys held up. So, we’re getting there.”
(Yes, but with all due respect, except for Washington, the NFC East's play didn't exactly scream championship quality football.)
The bottom line is the Giants don't have an infinite amount of time to get this unit fixed. Given all the additional coaching resources head coach Joe Judge has poured into the unit, the Giants realize it as well.
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