What’s the New York Giants’ Biggest Weakness Ahead of the 2021 Season?

The Giants are looking to post a winning record this year, but this one area could very well be the "make-or-break" factor that stands in their way, notes SI.com's Conor Orr.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 21, 2021 1:40 PM EDT

New York Giants team owner John Mara might not necessarily be hinging a playoff berth (which would be nice all the same) to what he’d consider as a successful season. Still, one thing Mara has consistently said he expects to see from the team is more wins.

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Understandably so. While the Giants’ six wins last year revealed a team that remained competitive down to the wire in the first season of head coach Joe Judge's tenure, the Giants could have very easily had a few more wins were it not for the offense’s inability to score.

To that end, the Giants tried to upgrade the offense, adding playmakers like Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and Kyle Rudolph to a group that includes Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, and Evan Engram. But the one unit that the Giants didn’t address just so happens to be the one that Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr cites as the team’s biggest weakness:

OFFENSIVE LINE: Dave Gettleman has quietly built a solid team capable of winning the division, but if the offensive line underperforms in 2021, it negates all of the expert maneuvering he’s done. Maybe this is a failure of coaching—offensive lines are one of those nebulous position groups that can turn quickly under the hands of a capable position coach—but there is too much money and draft capital invested in this unit for them to be considered a vulnerability. While criticizing Gettleman for the Andrew Thomas selection specifically isn’t fair—Thomas was put in a more difficult position than some of his more immediately successful offensive tackle counterparts in the 2020 draft—this collective unit produced the second-most pressured quarterback in the NFL last year.

Gettleman and the Giants are banking on young starters Andrew Thomas, Shane Lemieux, Nick Gates, Will Hernandez, and Matt Peart, all of whom (except for Hernandez, who is starting Year 1 at right guard), are in their second seasons starting at their respective positions.

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Last year, the Giants offensive line, which went through two different position coaches on top of having Thomas, Lemieux, and Peart all being rookies while Gates was a first-year starter at center, allowed 128 total pressure in 1,969 pass-blocking snaps, 6.5% of their pass-blocking snaps.

But in more encouraging news, the projected starters who played last week against the Jets--Thomas, Peart, Gates, and Hernandez (Lemieux was sidelined with a knee injury) only allowed one quarterback pressure, that being a sack credited to Peart on the first series.

The problem for the Giants offensive line lies in the unit's depth, where the retirements of Zach Fulton and Joe Looney have left some holes in the interior, and the health of Nate Solder at tackle, who injured his shoulder a couple of weeks ago.

The Giants did add veteran interior offensive lineman Ted Larsen to the group, and it would not be a surprise if they were to add another veteran once the final training camp roster cuts are made across the league.

At the end of the day, the Giants might be headed in the right direction with their personnel. Still, unless the offensive line stays healthy and is consistent in allowing quarterback Daniel Jones the time he needs to connect with his receiving targets, Giants fans could be in store for yet another long season ahead.