Skip to main content

Why the Deliberate Rebuild of the Giants O-line Could Create More Problems

The Giants offensive line rebuild is currently in its third year under Dave Gettleman and it's still not done. Here's why that could be a big problem in the not-too distant future.

People like to point out how Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has yet to enjoy a full game of having his entire slate of offensive skill players—running back Saquon Barkley, tight end Evan Engram, and receivers Golden Tate, Sterling Shepard, and Darius Slayton.

But instead of dwelling on that, a better question to wonder about is what kind of quarterback would Jones have been today if he had been able to play behind a solidified and consistent offensive line from his rookie season onward?

The skill position players are nice, but that thinking is very similar to what got the Giants previous regime in trouble when it used first-round draft picks on guys like running back David Wilson, receiver Odell Beckham Jr, and Engram. Sure all these skill position players are nice to have, but they’re like the tinsel on a holiday tree that lacks the stability to let that tinsel shine.

This whole premise seems to be the at the crux of what’s wrong with the Giants offense, whose running game ranks dead last in the league, and whose offense is averaging a measly 12.7 points per game, only a smidge better than the last-place Jets’ average of 12.4 points per game.

So along comes Dave Gettleman, an old school general manager who “learned” the Giants way that dates back to George Young, the team's first general manager with full authority over all football decisions who vowed to come in and "kick ass."

But along the way, the Giants Way of rebuilding a franchise became outdated.

Witness how between 2010-12 failed to add any premium draft assets to the team for the coaching staff to get ready for when the last of the great offensive line of 2008-10 was no more.

The task was not going to be accomplished in one off-season, but Gettleman was game to give it a go.

In 2018, his first Giants draft as general manager, he added guard Will Hernandez out of UTEP in the second round, a good start.

But in 2019, the only offensive lineman he added via the draft, George Asafo-Adjei, came in the seventh round—and he was one who never made it on the field for the Giants as after missing his entire rookie season with a concussion, Asafo-Adjei didn’t even make it to the spring.

Meanwhile, the team gave up on Ereck Flowers, who would find success at guard with Washington and now Miami. That forced them to have to sign 30-year-old Nate Solder to a lucrative contract that, even before the ink was dry on the deal, presented a steep challenge to live up to.

Gettleman also acquired guard Kevin Zeitler from the Browns, a smart move but another move that you can file in the mulligan category thanks to the depletion of young talent developed internally. Zeitler has been solid for the Giants, but it will be interesting to see if he’s here in 2021.

In 2020, Gettleman went all-in on adding to his hog molly rebuild project, adding Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick in the draft (and finally a cornerstone player to build that unit around), Matt Peart in the third, and Shane Lemieux in the fifth.

They also installed Nick Gates, an undrafted free agent who played tackle in college, as their center, a position he’s had to learn on the fly in a new offense no less and with a second-year quarterback.

Here, though, is where the plan seemed to go off the rails. Considering the offensive line was deemed a priority by Gettleman himself when he was first hired, why was he not more aggressive in adding to it in the draft?

Was cornerback DeAndre Baker, work ethic questions and all, really worth the picks they gave up that otherwise might have put the team in a position to grab one of the three offensive tackles that went early in the second round (Jawaan Taylor - Jaguars, Greg Little - Panthers, and Cody Ford - Bills)?

Like many other general managers, Gettleman likes to say you can’t force a pick based on need, but to a degree, need and value have for each pick have to be on the same page. In looking at some of the draft decisions, it’s fair to wonder, at least based on what we’ve seen in three games under a new coaching staff, if the need and value are a lot closer than what appears to be the case.

And here’s the other, more glaring concern about the deliberate pace in fixing the offensive line. After this season, there were early whispers of Barkley wanting to discuss a contract extension. Obviously, his ACL injury will delay those talks to where my guess is the Giants will want to see how well Barkley returns from his injury in 2021 before making a substantial long-term investment in him.

If that does end up being the timeline, then guess what? Jones and defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II will also be eligible to discuss their respective contracts—and did I mention all of this is likely to go down in an environment in which the NFL salary cap might not be fully recovered from the impact of the lost revenues thanks to COVID-19?

Dave Gettleman and John Mara have a lot more information on which to make decisions and probably don't need more advice coming in from the outside. But if I’m the Giants, I tread lightly here and wait until I can get a full appreciation of what my skill position players can do behind a complete offensive line before I start printing up money.