Pro Football Focus Reveals Its Top Three Giants Off-season Needs
Pro Football Focus recently released its list of off-season needs for all 32 NFL teams, with three needs listed per team.
When it came to the Giants, however, the popular analytics web site deviated a bit from what seems to be the popular consensus that the Giants top needs are receiver, edge rusher, and cornerback.
Instead, PFF believes the Giants are in more dire need of an offensive guard over a cornerback, writing:
Kevin Zeitler was a solid player at one guard spot, but the other one for the Giants was a mess. Will Hernandez and Shane Lemieux combined to create a problem spot all season long regardless of who was starting. The pair surrendered 50 total pressures and had PFF run-blocking grades below 60.0 each. They are both young players, but at this point the Giants may not have the luxury of allowing them to develop if the team values the development of quarterback Daniel Jones, who had a PFF grade of 91.5 when kept clean this season but 46.9 when pressured.
PFF's logic here doesn't quite make sense. Presumably the Giants are going to plug in Matt Peart, who like Lemieux is entering his second season, at right tackle, or at the very least have him compete for the spot. So how is it the Giants have the luxury of allowing Peart, who didn't receive as many snaps as Lemieux or Hernandez, to develop but not one of the young guards?
And speaking of Lemieux, he was fine as a run blocker, but shaky in pass protection. But who's to say that a full off-season under the Giants watch won't lead to improvement?
Lemieux, for what it's worth, offers much better mobility than Hernandez, who is fine when asked to work in a phone booth but who is a bit on the sluggish side when asked to pull.
The Giants got by last year as that offensive line did start to play better in the second half of the season. With limited cap resources, it's probably not feasible to put getting a veteran guard via free agency ahead of the other, more pressing needs of receiver, edge rusher, cornerback, tight end and backup running back.
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