Giants Player Profile: Will Hernandez, OG
2019 Rewind
Will Hernandez entered his second season in the National Football League last year with high hopes and perhaps equally high expectations.
The 34th selection in the 2018 draft who played his college ball at Texas-El Paso (UTEP) came into the league with a reputation as a grinding, tough, mean run blocker, with pass blocking upside.
He finished as a second Team All-Pro in 2016 and First-Team All-Pro in 2017 for his conference, which is C-USA.
Hernandez slid into the left guard position and has been there ever since. A left guard position where Hernandez started 49 games for the UTEP miners. He was one of six Miners in school history to earn AP All-American honors, and he was the first UTEP player in school history to earn it in back-to-back seasons.
He had a solid rookie season where he displayed positive traits and was named to the PFWA-All rookie team, as the Giants ranked 24th in the NFL in rushing yards per game (103.1).
But after a promising rookie season, the 2019 season wasn’t as kind to Hernandez or the Giants rushing attack, albeit the team ended up ranking 19th in the NFL in rushing yards (105.3), but that was also with Daniel Jones at quarterback, who is more of a rushing threat than Eli Manning.
Hernandez showed significant mishaps in pass protection in 2019. A lot of this may have contributed to the offensive line being out-schemed and the fact that Nate Solder was playing alongside the young player. Nevertheless, Hernandez's play also fell off.
But before we label Hernandez as a bust, let's look at the entirety of the offensive line. The Giants 2019 offensive line, led by coach Hal Hunter, was never in sync; the inside zone that Pat Shurmur was married to was never a natural fit; and Hernandez, at times, didn't seem to know how to execute fully.
There were quite a few matchups where the offensive line seemed to be out-schemed by defensive coordinators with stunts/twists, and uneven number matchups (basically manipulating protections, which may also be attributed to having a young quarterback).
All of this affected Hernandez, and his effectiveness significantly dropped.
Looking Ahead
Despite Hernadez's struggles, I remain very optimistic about his skill set. His hips are fluid, he’s very strong at the point of attack, and he seems to have a good head on his shoulders while bringing a high level of competitive toughness to the table. This is partially why I think Hernandez will take the most significant leap forward.
The traits are there for the young guard; he’s just struggled with what's around him. The addition of former Dallas’ offensive line coach Marc Colombo will only help Hernandez.
Colombo has worked with the likes of Zack Martin, Travis Frederick, Tyron Smith, La’el Collins, Connor Williams, and Ronald Leary, and he was able to get so much out of these talented linemen.
Colombo is going to bring stability to the offensive line room and hopefully create a more cohesive unit because it was just hard to come by in 2019. Jason Garrett, the former Dallas Cowboys head coach, is also coming over to be the Giants' offensive coordinator.
The expectation is that Garrett will run a lot more gap/power type of running concepts. Gap/power means there will be much more DUO blocking, pulling, pun-pull, and other concepts that will feature Hernandez moving into space and being a lead blocker for Saquon Barkley.
In my opinion, Hernandez’s best fit is in this type of scheme where he can use his ability to stay low, explode into space, locate, and drive players off the line of scrimmage.
The Giants will still implement some zone concepts too, but I feel Hernandez will be better off with gap/power concepts.
Another big question mark that surrounds Hernandez is not directly about the player, but rather the left tackle position. The blindside of Daniel Jones will be protected by either Nate Solder or fourth overall selection, Andrew Thomas.
The former struggled in 2019, but his contract essentially forces him to be on the roster for at least another season. Thomas has experience at both left and right tackle but is more than likely the long term solution on the left side.
Either way, Hernandez is either going to be the veteran on the left side or have to be with a struggling Solder. Nevertheless, having Colombo and Garrett calling the shots should stabilize the unit, as a whole, which will also allow Hernandez to unlock his potential and finally be the player we expect him to be.
