The Biggest Question Nobody Is Asking About the Giants (And How They’re Answering It)

NFL training camps are always a time for clubs to answer their biggest questions. For the New York Giants, who have many questions still to be sorted out by the end of their summer training camp, one of their biggest questions that’s not really being discussed a lot is one they’re going to need to find out in a hurry.

That question centers around rookie offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa, the tenth overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, who is not only expected to be a Day 1 starter, but he’s also going through a position conversion from tackle, where he played the bulk of his college career for the Miami Hurricanes, to guard.

The conversion hit the ground running, dating back to the spring, starting with Mauigoa’s total buy-in to make the move and conquer it with the same gusto with which he conquers opposing defensive linemen who make daring attempts to get by him in passing situations.

That transition, by the way, is in addition to learning a new offensive system and undergoing some tweaks to his technique as being taught by Mike Bloomgren, the Giants' new offensive line coach.

Although Mauigoa did get practice reps at guard and center with the Hurricanes, playing at full speed on the much bigger stage that is the NFL is going to take some time to get used to.

His biggest adjustment, according to Bloomgren, will be the speed of the pro game.

“The thing is that everything happens faster at guard,” Bloomgren said last month. “When you're at tackle, and you've got an edge rusher, you've got time and space to work with. And for some people, that's gonna be harder.”

The successful conversion of Mauigoa is key, given the Giants’ interior offensive line was by far the weakest part of the unit in 2025.

Per Pro Football Focus, Jon Runyan and Greg Van Roten, the starting left and right guards, respectively, on that unit, combined for 57 of the team’s 140 pressures, the two men ranking first and second among their teammates for most pressures allowed.

Building Comfort, Rep by Rep

May 9, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (65) participates in a drill during rookie minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Besides working with Mauigoa on his technique and footwork, Bloomgren said it’s just a matter of giving the rookie as many reps as possible, both in practice and in the preseason, to build comfort.

“Repetition is the mother of all learning—how many reps can we get to get you so you are comfortable?”

With pro defenses more likely to throw stunts/twists and exotic-looking blitzes than their college counterparts, that’s another area Mauigoa is going to need to find a comfort level against, especially considering how quickly things develop inside at guard.

“It's getting the speed of pass protection, the speed of the games, and the speed at which those twists happen,” Bloomgren said. “That's the biggest thing.”

It is also going to help that the Hurricanes deployed a lot of gap-scheme blocking in the run game, a scheme that the Giants are expected to heavily lean on.

According to Pro Football Focus, last year the Hurricanes ran more gap-scheme blocking than zone blocking, a trend that also appears to have held for most of Mauigoa’s career.

Bloomgren and head coach John Harbaugh have praised the rookie for how he has attacked the position switch head-on, with Harbaugh having described Mauigoa as looking “like a natural at guard” after seeing him for the first time in rookie minicamp back in May.

But like Bloomgren, Harbaugh noted that the speed is going to be something for Mauigoa to get used to, and that when the pads go on, they’ll really be able to get a good sense of how far along the transition has come.

Mauigoa Defines His Goal

May 9, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (65) looks on during a drill at rookie minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Mauigoa has not only attacked the position switch head-on, but he’s also determined to answer the question of whether he can be trusted at the new position by the end of the summer.

“My first goal as a rookie is to earn everybody's trust,” Mauigoa told the Locked On Giants podcast.

“I can't be on the field if I didn't earn everybody's trust. So I gotta make that come to life by dominating practice, by doing everything right, and learning the playbook—you know, everything that requires me to earn people's trust to put me on a field. So you gotta take it step by step.”

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