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In the nearly four years since he was hired, press conferences for Giants general manager Dave Gettleman have been defined by mistrust.
On May 1, Gettleman rebuffed the suggestion that he had made a mistake in not significantly tackling the Giants’ offensive line this offseason.
“You don’t want it to be good enough, you want it to be good – just plain,” he said. “It’s really obvious that we have a little more confidence in our offensive linemen than you (the media) do. So I’m just going to say we’re happy with the group we have.
On Tuesday, the Giants completely revamped their offensive line room. Again.
They cut Kenny Wiggins and Jonotthan Harrison, placed Ted Larsen – signed Aug. 13 – in the injured reserve and traded for two young offensive linemen in Billy Price and Ben Bredeson. Price and Bredeson started a game (total) in 2020. One of them may have to start at left guard in Week 1, and they haven’t even trained with the Giants yet.
And then there’s this: The Ravens were only able to trade Bredeson on Tuesday because the Giants chose to release goaltender Kevin Zeitler this offseason – their best offensive lineman in each of the past two seasons – for ceiling space. With Zeitler in the fold, the Ravens didn’t need Bredeson. So they got a fourth round pick for him… the Giants, who got fifth and seventh round picks in return.
But it goes back to Gettleman’s original point: he, head coach Joe Judge and the Giants bet their season on a bad offensive line to get good. Or average. Or even simply, simply, better than very badly. The complete overhaul of an offensive line less than two weeks before the start of the season is a strong sign that they no longer have the confidence Gettleman used to boast of – and it’s clearly an indictment of failure evident from the offseason.
The Giants haven’t approached the offensive line in any meaningful way – free agency or the NFL Draft – and now they’re pushing each other and it could derail their season. The big moves of the organization: hiring Rob Sale from the university to coach the position and bringing back Pat Flaherty to help him do it.
The Giants signed Zach Fulton, and he was behind Wiggins on the depths board before he retired.
They signed Joe Looney with a minimum contract early in camp and then he retired as well.
They didn’t draft a lineman, opting for an outside development linebacker (Elerson Smith) in the fourth round – he didn’t practice all of training camp – and a running back (Gary Brightwell) to the sixth. A luxury pick for a team that are 15-33 during Gettleman’s three-year reign.
Even more worrying than the depth of the offensive line: the starters.
During the preseason, Pro Football Focus had the Giants’ offensive line ranked fourth among the worst pass-blocking units, although the starters did not play all three games. They played half against the Jets in Week 1, and half against the Patriots in Week 3… and they were at their worst against the Patriots. They struggled even more in joint practices against the Browns and Patriots.
In practice and in the game, Patriots rusher Josh Uche ate Andrew Thomas’ lunch. And Thomas is supposed to be the anchor of the offensive line. He allowed 1.5 sacks and pressure on the first practice of the preseason game. Later linebacker Matthew Judon passed Thomas and landed a crushing blow on quarterback Daniel Jones just as he was throwing a pass. The pressure came on all night.
Thomas has just completed a rookie season in which he allowed the second most presses of any offensive lineman and was the worst of four highly drafted rookies (Mekhi Becton, Tristan Wirfs, Jedrick Wills) after having been chosen before all. He showed signs of life towards the end of the season – then played like he did against the Patriots.
Sound the alarm.
If Thomas is this bad this season – especially as the Giants open the season with games against Von Miller, Chase Young and other elite passers – the Giants are going to struggle to win six more games.
“There is certainly pressure, but I’m putting pressure on myself,” Thomas said on Sunday. “I know I was given this role and I worked hard to be here. I have to step up and do what I need to do to play well.
Shane Lemieux, PFF’s lowest-rated goaltender last year, is named as the starting left goalie, and he barely trained at training camp due to a knee injury that looks more serious than the Giants do not let it be understood. Matt Peart struggled so hard for the right tackle that veteran Nate Solder, who was out of football in 2020 and allowed 11 sacks in 2019, might end up starting. Right guard Will Hernandez played well against the Patriots, but wasn’t consistent at camp.
“I’ve seen some very encouraging things and obviously things that we’ve talked about as a staff that we need to focus on and really improve over the next couple of weeks to give our team an opportunity,” said Judge. Monday. “A lot of encouraging things to develop with what these guys have been doing. We are building for fundamental discipline and consistency at all levels with all players in all positions, but obviously with offensive linemen, [it] works by functioning as a unit in the future and continuing with chemistry.
It’s a long way of saying … not much. If the Giants were encouraged by play from the offensive line, there would be no more praise. There would be Something Pray.
Instead, it looks, once again, like one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL.
“Is that what they say?” Hernandez said this week with a smile.
Yes. This is what they say.
“It’s good,” he said. “We constantly want to improve. We need to improve quickly. But that will never change, we’re always going to want to improve. Even if they had said we were the best O-Line in the NFL, I would have given you the same answer: we need to improve.
The Giants need the offense to simply be pretty good. Clear and simple.
Not this Wrong.
When Gettleman was hired he said, “We need to fix the O line, let’s be honest. Make no mistake … great men allow you to compete and that’s what we need to fix.
Let’s face it:
The offensive line looks worse now than when Gettleman was hired. And these great men, if they keep playing like this, won’t allow the Giants to compete.
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Zack Rosenblatt can be reached at [email protected].
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