Joe Judge: No Decision Yet on Offensive Line Plans
The loss of third-year guard Will Hernandez, who tested positive for COVID-19 this week, has left the Giants with a hole to fill on their offensive line ahead of Monday night's game against Tampa Bay.
Head coach Joe Judge told reporters Saturday that the team hasn't decided what the starting lineup will look like given Hernandez's absence.
This is partially due to the Giants having had to practice without five other offensive linemen on Wednesday to quarantine after Hernandez's diagnosis.
"We're going to consider all the guys right now," Judge said of candidates that include rookie Shane Lemieux and veteran Chad Slade. "We're going to go through that today after practice and kind of go through how the week went and what's going on. We got a lot of install going on today with the red zone and two-minute.
Judge admitted that being without most of the offensive linemen on Thursday--all but four of the team's offensive linemen were required to self-isolate after having been identified as coming in contact with Hernandez through the tracer system--that set back the timeline on making decisions.
"Without having a lot of those guys on Wednesday, it's kind of backlogged some of the stuff we've had to do so there are still some decisions that have to be made there."
Lemieux, the Giants' fifth-round draft pick out of Oregon this year, is thought to be the top candidate to start in place of Hernandez at the left guard spot.
However, Judge also hasn't ruled out the idea of the Giants rotating offensive linemen in and out of the lineup.
"Right now, we're okay to rotate guys on through," Judge said. "That's really part of the plan anyway, to get some of these other guys involved throughout the program and make sure throughout the course of the season we see enough of them and let them develop."
The Giants have already used this strategy with Matt Peart, who made his first career start in place of fellow rookie offensive tackle Andrew Thomas in Week 6 against the Washington Football Team.
In the first quarter, Thomas was benched for being late to a team meeting in the week leading up to the game, which allowed Peart to get some meaningful offensive reps for the Giants.
The Giants ultimately alternated between Thomas and Peart, the latter playing 26 offensive snaps and the former, 22.
The Giants also rotated Peart with right tackle Cameron Fleming in Week 7 against the Eagles.
