Why the NY Giants Have Spent Sparingly on O-line So Far

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh is the first to admit that the team’s offensive line is far from being complete, an admission he made during the NFC head coaches breakfast at the league meeting on Monday.

But just because there hasn’t been much movement in free agency to address a unit that right now is set to return four of its five starters from last year and which has “recycled” some previous young depth like Evan Neal and Joshua Ezeudu, two players that most people thought the Giants would move on from in free agency, that doesn’t mean that Harbaugh and the Giants aren’t keeping their options open.

New York Giants OL Evan Neal | Chris Pedota / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I think the offensive line is like our team. It's a work in progress,” Harbaugh told reporters on Monday. “The whole team is a work in progress still. We don't play until September. We have a lot of work to do.

“But the offensive line, defensive line, I think we talked about it right from day one. That's where games are won and lost. We've gotta try to build the best offensive and defensive lines in football. That's gotta be our goal.”

Harbaugh reminded reporters that free agency is still ongoing, even though it’s slowed somewhat as teams now go nonstop with finalizing draft preparation, the Giants included.

“We just haven't had an opportunity yet,” he said when asked why the team hasn’t made a bigger investment in the unit. “It just wasn't available to us for the parameters that we built.

“You can overpay, but you can't afford it. A lot of times, you know, we want it to be smart and efficient in how we do it. And we're still gonna continue to do that because, you know, you're also building for the long term.”

Hope for Neal and Ezeudu

Harbaugh sounded optimistic about the team's decision to bring back Neal, the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft, and Ezeudu, the third-round pick that year, two players who have failed to pan out for varying reasons.

“I'm excited about those two guys,” Harbaugh said. “I remember back as far back as the draft process, those two players were guys that we, we, we felt really good about in Baltimore–we had 'em highly graded.”

New York Giants guard Joshua Ezeudu | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Harbaugh hinted that he had a conversation with each player and came away convinced that the change in the coaching staff and the atmosphere in general, which saw both players buried this past season–Neal being banished to the bench and Ezeudu, after landing on IR early, never being given a chance to come off it–would do both some good.

“They haven't broken through yet, but why can't they? Why not give an opportunity?” Harbaugh said.

“They're motivated. They came into the office, sat down, and laid out a plan and a vision for what they want to accomplish and the kind of players they want to be. And they showed us what they're doing to make that happen right now. So let's give 'em a shot.”

If Harbaugh and his staff can get the most out of Ezeudu and Neal, both of whom project to be guards moving forward despite their college pedigree having had them at tackle, that would be a big boon to the “in progress” offensive line.

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