One Pending Unrestricted Free-agent the NY Giants Absolutely Must Re-sign

If the NY Giants do nothing else in free agency, they need to re-sign this pending unrestricted free agent.

New York Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor might leave behind the biggest hole if he isn't re-signed. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The New York Giants are once again one of the NFL’s 24 teams watching the playoffs unfold from the sidelines following their 4-13 2025 season that didn’t come close to meeting any expectations of improvement from an equally dismal 2024 campaign. 

While the organization is longing to return to its glory days of success and playing football deep into January, the early end to the season at least affords it one advantage.

That is getting a head start on reviewing the players in their locker room, in particular those who will be impending free agents and will need to be retained for the long haul. 

The Giants have 20 such players on their roster who hold that designation, with free agency opening on the horizon, including a few names who played important roles and posted excellent numbers in their latest stint with the franchise.

More importantly than the amount of talent, the Giants might have to be strategic on which players they select to dish out new contracts, as the current state of their salary cap isn’t currently in the greatest of health and will require them to make some difficult decisions and restructures to help the money work. 

Such will be the first goal of general manager Joe Schoen and new head coach John Harbaugh once the latter’s contract is finalized and the two begin collaborating on retooling the roster for greater success in the 2026 season. 

As that work will begin shortly, the biggest question remains: which of the Giants' unrestricted free agents is most important to achieving that success and must be re-signed at all costs?

Giants need Jermaine Eluemunor for consistency on the offensive line 

New York Giants tackle Jermaine Eluemunor | John Jones-Imagn Images

The common response among Giants fans is that the team needs to hold onto wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson following the career-high season that saw him tally his first 1,000-yard receiving line and lead the position group in the absence of Malik Nabers, who missed most of the season with an ACL injury. 

However, not enough weight is being given to the value of resigning offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, whose two-year contract signed before the 2024 season is up and was one of the main figures helping the Giants' offense acclimate behind rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. 

The Giants have had their struggles with the offensive line for much of the last decade, with the unit often crumbling to the bottom of the league rankings either by poor pass protection or injuries at multiple positions at once. 

It’s been the same factor that has caused the Giants’ carousel of quarterbacks before Dart to run for their lives or be left on an island, which, in turn, has made the rest of the offense inefficient at creating good drives and threatening opponents on the scoreboard.

Not in the 14 games where Dart took over as the starting arm. While it helped that he was much more mobile than an aging Russell Wilson and could escape the pocket with regularity to preserve the play, Dart got some serious help from his bookend tackles in Andrew Thomas, who was finally healthy for most of the season, and Eluemunor, who provided stout pass protection. 

On Eluemunor’s side, the 31-year-old right tackle played in all but one game for the Giants, posting 638 pass blocking snaps and allowing four sacks and 19 total pressures.

The sacks total could have been improved, but it can’t be ignored how Eluemunor has vastly improved his overall protection since continuing his work with offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo. 

After giving up two sacks in the first four weeks of the season when Wilson was under center, Eluemunor cleaned things up and went the remainder of the season, allowing one sack apiece in Weeks 11 and 12.

He also allowed more than one pressure just three times to earn a 98.0 pass blocking efficiency rate, which marked his best score in five years. 

With a second season under his belt in New York’s offensive system, Eluemunor went from giving up nearly 30 pressures per season to the fifth-highest graded offensive tackle with at least 600 pass blocking snaps in 2025. 

Having two very reliable veterans flanking him on both sides of the offensive front was one of the biggest keys in Jaxson Dart’s early development and maintaining his confidence to throw the football downfield that would have otherwise plagued other young quarterbacks the Giants have had.

Dart does need the experience of being a true pocket passer, and Eluemunor was one of the faces who made sure he got that this season.

That is why the Giants should make it their priority to retain him among any other UFA this offseason, with equal stress on guys like Robinson and Cor’Dale Flott if they can make it work. 

The upcoming draft class is set to be loaded with good talent at receiver and cornerback, leaving the Giants with some quality options to reload those position groups there if they can’t keep their veteran pieces.

On the other hand, the offensive tackle pool isn’t as dense with elite prospects, which would make replacing Eluemunor in that manner a little more of a risk. 

Eluemunor just needs to clean up his inclination for penalties, and he would be the perfect first signing of the offseason for the Giants, who need to keep improving their offensive line so the rest of the huddle can continue rising into the competitive group they envision it being with Dart under center.

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