Giants revamped offensive line faces tough task in its opening act

Complicated Minnesota defense presents difficult challenge

The woebegone offensive line was at the center of much of what went wrong with the New York Giants in 2023, surrendering a league-worst 85 sacks as the Giants stumbled to a 6-11 record.

General manager Joe Schoen made solidifying that group an offseason priority, refusing to re-sign Saquon Barkley so that there would be money to spend on veteran offensive linemen in free agency.

The Giants added three starters, left guard Jon Runyan Jr., right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, starting right guard Greg Van Roten, and backup guard Aaron Stinnie. The Giants spent $25 million in guaranteed money to sign those four players, who have 178 combined regular season starts.

On Sunday, when the Giants open their 2024 regular season against the Minnesota Vikings, we begin to find out if Schoen spent wisely.

It was not a clean preseason for the offensive line.

They began the spring with Eluemunor at left guard, Runyan at right guard and Evan Neal penciled in as the likely starter at right tackle.

By the beginning of training camp that plan had changed. Neal still wasn’t practicing as he recovered from early January ankle surgery. Eluemunor moved to right tackle. Runyan to left guard. Stinnie took over at right guard with Van Roten not yet on the roster. When Van Roten finally signed, he spent his first week or so at center since John Michael Schmitz was out with a shoulder injury.

It wasn’t until after the final preseason game that the Giants Week 1 starting offensive line practiced together. It was such a momentous occasion that head coach Brian Daboll jokingly took a photo with the group.

Now, on Sunday the offensive line gets to debut by facing one of the most aggressive, complex defenses in the NFL. It’s not exactly a soft landing.

The Vikings, with defensive coordinator Brian Flores at the controls, led the league in blitz percentage a year ago. Minnesota’s defense, though, is about a lot more than the blitz.

“Coach Flores does a great job. A lot of respect for him,” said Giants offensive coordinator/assistant head coach Mike Kafka. “Not only did they lead the league in cover zero, they led the league in cover two. They led the league in drop eight. Prevent coverage. They led the league in pressure all by a large margin. They use a bunch of multiple looks, multiple fronts, and personnel grouping.

“We’ve got to be prepared for all of that. We work through that throughout the week, put together the best plan we can, and then go out and execute.”

Left tackle Andrew Thomas, clearly the best player on the Giants’ line, said this week that

“It’s all about your rules and your communication,” Thomas said. “We don’t know exactly what they’re going to do, but we try to read our keys and follow our rules. That’s the only way to pick up blitz zero and those different pressures.”

Center John Michael Schmitz, in his second season, is the only starting offensive lineman for the Giants playing on his rookie contract. Thomas and Runyan are in their fifth seasons, Van Roten his 10th, and Eluemunor his eighth.

The Giants will be relying on all of that experience and institutional knowledge to overcome the reps they have not gotten together as a unit.

Kafka said that experience “absolutely” should help on Sunday.

“When you have guys that have played even against Coach Flores in the past, I know Vegas (where Eluemunor and Van Roten were), they played him last year or a couple years back even when he was in Miami,” Kafka said. “Having that familiarity, having those older vets that have seen it a few times for JMS to be up there and kind of set the table for us, it’s good to kind of lean on those guys and their experiences.”

Eluemunor knows what will be coming from Flores and the Vikings.

“I played the Vikings last year. I’ve played against Brian Flores multiple times in my career, so I know some of the tendencies,” Eluemunor said. “New England does the same thing and I’ve played against New England multiple times also.”

Eluemunor realizes that knowledge of the opponent won’t be enough.

“It doesn’t matter how used to going against that defense you are you have to trust your technique,” he said. “Communication is a big thing going against a team like that because there may be some looks you haven’t seen before but another guy has so you have to be able to communicate with the guys next to you.

“As a five we have to be able to make sure we watch a bunch of film, make sure we go out there and execute our blocks and give Daniel (Jones) the time he needs to throw the ball down the field and score points.”

One thing the Giants won’t have to worry about is the right side of their line, Van Roten and Eluemunor, needing to learn each other. The two have thousands of game and practice reps playing next to each other with the Las Vegas Raiders.

“He (Van Roten) knows the way I play and I know how he plays,” Eluemunor said. “I know how he likes to set, and he knows the way I like to set … I don’t have to tell him how I’m going to set, he just already knows. He’s experienced. He’s smart as hell. I get the benefit of a guy who’s really smart and his knowledge of the game is greater than mine. I’m learning every day from him.”

Eluemunor feels as though the unit is coming together quickly.

“Being able to practice as a five the last couple of days has been really cool,” Eluemunor said. “It feels like we’ve been playing next to each other for a long time other than two weeks.”

“I think we’re ready,” Runyan said. “Excited to see what this offensive line can do. I think we have all the talent around us necessary and I think we’re really starting to mesh well. We’ll be ready and excited to see what we’re doing. I know it’s going to be positive.”

Quarterback Daniel Jones likes what he has seen.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in that group,” Jones said. “I think they’ve played really well throughout training camp. We’ve got some veterans who (we) brought in, some older guys who I think have done a good job and gotten on the same page. I think Carm has done a really good job working with that group. I feel like we have a good plan this week. I’m excited. I think that group has played well.”

There’s always this if the Giants’ offense needs motivation:

The Giants are hopeful that Sunday will help them begin to turn the page on 2023.

“It was a lot of things that we dealt with last year, but we’re putting that to bed, have a new group up front,” Thomas said. “We’re trying to be dominant, be physical, protect (quarterback Daniel Jones) DJ and open holes for the run game.

“I’m very confident in the group we have, but honestly, we won’t know until we get on the field. Anybody can play when they’re up 20 and everything’s going right. But once we hit adversity, once we hit pressure and there’s a sack or a bad play, how do we bounce back from it? I think that’s what makes the great lines. That’s what we’ll try to exemplify.”

If they can do those things against the complex Minnesota defense, that might be a good sign for the rest of the season.