Yes, the New York Giants offensive line is a better overall unit than the 2023 squad, albeit there were varying levels of mediocrity with last year’s offensive line. Receiving a fully healthy Andrew Thomas at left tackle almost ensures the superiority of offensive line coach Carmen Bricillio’s unit. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting topic to explore.
The Giants had holes throughout their roster heading into the 2024 offseason. They allowed two born-and-raised Giants, running back Saquon Barkley and safety Xavier McKinney, to walk in free agency. Both are assets to their teams, and McKinney has had more interceptions through four games than he has had since the 2021 season (4).
The 2023 offensive line
The Giants starting offensive line entering Week 1 of the 2023 season was…
RT: Evan Neal
RG: Mark Glowinski
C: John Michael Schmtiz Jr.
LG: Ben Bredeson
LT: Andrew Thomas
Thomas played one healthy drive in the game and then hobbled to 53 of 70 total snaps. He wasn’t healthy the rest of the season but returned to action in Week 9. Joshua Ezeudu would start at left tackle until he landed on Injured Reserve after Week 6. He surrendered five sacks and 12 pressures in 181 pass-blocking reps. Ezeudu’s shift to left tackle moved Shane Lemieux into the starting lineup for a Week 3 game, where he earned a 3.8 Pro Football Focus Grade.
Mark Glowinski is a free agent right now and was benched for Marcus McKethan, a fifth-round pick in 2022 who recovered from a torn ACL suffered in training camp as a rookie. McKethan would leave the lineup in Week 8 against the Jets in favor of Glowinski. McKethan is also unsigned after being waived by the Giants.
Arguably, the best overall Giants’ offensive lineman in 2023 was Justin Pugh, a former Giant they signed straight off the couch. He was signed to play guard and had to start three games at left tackle due to Ezeudu’s injury in Week 6. Also in Week 6 against the Bills, Evan Neal suffered an ankle injury that required off-season surgery. After that injury, Neal only played in Week 9 and finished the season with 29 pressures and two sacks surrendered.
The Giants were lucky enough to sign Tyre Phillips off the Eagles’ practice squad, and he started nine games for them. I say lucky enough because the Giants had Phillips on their roster as a swing option behind the shakey Neal, but he was released at final cuts. Phillips allowed 21 pressures and two sacks on 334 pass-blocking reps. Before resigning Phillips, Matt Peart struggled to hold down both tackle spots.
The 2023 Giants’ offensive line played an expensive game of musical chairs. There was no stability on the unit, little proven talent, and injuries were aplenty. The volatility of the line stifled development, and rookie center John Michael Schmitz’s situation was inauspicious.
The Giants only had more than 127 rushing yards in one of their six wins last season. It was the Monday Night Football eruption of 209 yards on the deck against the Green Bay Packers, with four Giants’ rushers earning more than 15 yards. Quarterback Tommy DeVito used the energy induced by succulent Chicken Cutlets to amass 71 yards on the ground.
In 2022, the Giants finished the season 9-7-1 with a playoff victory; in those ten total wins, the Giants rushed for more than 127 yards seven times. Some of those instances were comeback victories by the Giants.
Saquon Barkley averages six yards per carry through four games with the Eagles. He averaged just 3.9 last year. It’s a small sample size in entirely different situations, but poor offensive line play is undoubtedly a factor.
Fixing the offensive line
New York signed Jon Runyan Jr. three-year contract worth $30 million with $17 million guaranteed, and Jermaine Eluemunor signed a two-year, $14 million contract, including a $5-million signing bonus, $6.75-million guaranteed. They also signed Aaron Stinnie for interior depth.
I have no issue with Joe Schoen’s approach. Build up the dilapidated trenches and fortify the front. Make the offensive line competent again. Schoen tackled that strategy in free agency but did not draft young offensive linemen in 2024.
As the season approached and miner injuries started mounting, including a longer recovery process for Evan Neal, Schoen added 34-year-old OL Greg Van Roten, who starts at right guard for New York.
Schoen and the Giants opted to pursue a high-floor offensive line approach predicated on familiarity. Eluemunor and Van Roten have worked with Bricillo. Brian Daboll brought in a familiar face, Devin Singletary, to replace Barkley.
Did the Giants fix the offensive line?
Rushing attack
Pro Football Focus grades the Giants’ 2023 offensive line as the third-worst run-blocking unit behind the Los Angeles Chargers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. They finished the 2023 season 20th in yards per carry with an average of 4.1. New York ranked 29th in expected points contributed by the rushing offense. The overall offense had a value over-adjusted (VOA) ranking of 30th.
Through four games, Pro Football Focus grades the Giants’ 2024 offensive line as the second-worst run-blocking unit behind the Las Vegas Raiders. New York ranks dead last in yards per carry, averaging 3.4. They rank 31st in expected points contributed by the rushing offense. The overall offense had a value over-adjusted ranking of 21st in the league.
The offensive line investments have not paid significant dividends in rushing success through four games. There are several possible reasons for the inefficiency on the ground. It is mostly a new unit, with one of their starters (Van Roten) signed a few days into training camp; that factors in, as makes the loss of Saquon Barkley, albeit Singletary is a perfectly capable running back.
However, the Giants’ opponents play a role as well. The Minnesota Vikings look like the best defense in the league, but we were not aware of that in Week 1. The Vikings have the best DVOA of any defense and are second-best against the run. New York only had 74 rushing yards (3.5 YPC) in Week 1 against Minnesota.
The Giants established the run well in Washington. They mainly employed a DUO rushing scheme, averaging 5.9 YPC and totaling 129 yards—however, the Commanders average about 5.3 YPC on the season. The Browns allow 4.6 YPC, and the Giants have 3.5 YPC in Cleveland during their lone win of the season.
Through three weeks, one could surmise that the rushing attack wasn’t perfect but adequate, with an excellent upcoming matchup at home against a Dallas Cowboys team that averaged a league-high 185 rushing yards against per game. The Cowboys bled rushing yards to the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Ravens.
The Giants were dominated on the ground. They averaged a measly 1.1 yards per carry as Mike Zimmer’s defensive unit adjusted and solidified. Check out his video to find out exactly why. Appropriate consternation developed with the Giants’ ineffective performance on the ground against Dallas.
Logic would suggest the competent nature of the personnel on the offensive line will lead to a more reliable ground attack. Still, that may not manifest next week. The Giants travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks in their short week, but Mike MacDonald’s defense is ranked second in DVOA.
A home game in Week 6 on Sunday Night Football against a Bengals’ defense that ranks in the bottom ten in DVOA. The Bengals allow the 25th most rushing yards on the ground.
The advanced statistics do not suggest the Giants’ rushing offense is much improved from last year. I will exercise cautious patience to see if the Giants can spice up their rushing attack. They succeeded with DUO runs against Washington — displacing defensive linemen through double-teams up to the second-level defenders.
Singletary averages 4.1 yards per carry on DUO run. The Giants also found some success running to the open side (weak side). The Giants haven’t had as much success with counter or “crunch” plays, and they’ve yet to hit a big play on their zone-read runs (other than the third-and-five conversion).
Pass protection
The answer is yes. The Giants’ pass protection is significantly better than that of the 2023 team. I’ve never seen Daniel Jones so comfortable and clean in a pocket. However, according to Pro Football Focus, he still leads the league in quarterback pressures allowed with 13. 23.6% of the Giants’ team pressure in 2024 is assigned to Jones, which ranks fifth in the NFL behind Bryce Young, Jayden Daniels, Justin Fields, and Patrick Mahomes.
Jones is a mobile quarterback who attempts to extend plays; this naturally leads to more pressures allowed. However, Pro Football Focus has the Giants’ offensive line with the third lowest percent of pressure drop back responsibility.
Jones was pressured third-highest of any quarterback through four games (excluding four Monday night teams). Yet he’s only been sacked nine times in the season. His pressure-to-sack ratio is among the best in the NFL at just 14.5%. Jones has done well to find solutions when he is under duress. Simple answers like throwing it away are a sign of maturity, and Jones is tied for the league lead with nine throwaways.
For pass blocking specifically, Pro Football Focus ranks the Giants as the 17th most efficient pass-blocking unit. All of the Giants’ starting offensive linemen have 65.0 or higher pass-blocking grades except Van Roten and John Michael Schmtiz Jr. The former has the 17th-worst pass-blocking grade at guard, and the latter is the ninth-worst graded center.
Van Roten leads the team with 11 pressures surrendered. He is followed tightly by both tackles — Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemuor — who have surrendered 10 each. Jon Runyan Jr. has seven, and Schmitz has six.
Pro Football Reference has the New York Giants leading the NFL in PrtTime (the average time for a quarterback to throw until the pocket collapses): Jones and the Giants average 2.5 seconds, tied with the Tennessee Titans, who played on Monday night. Jones has also been blitzed the fifth-most of any other quarterback.
The protection is providing Jones an opportunity to throw. Twists are exchanged well, and the offensive line, overall, is playing more as a unit in pass protection than in previous years. This should come as no surprise, given the investment into competence. However, none of it will matter if the Giants fail to execute in the red zone and force their kicker to boot five field goals.
Final thoughts
The Giants have a better situation on the offesnvie line than in 2023. If they didn’t, it would be a disaster. However, the unit still leaves some to be desired. Singletary hasn’t had much room to operate; he ranks 20th in yards after contact (3.23) and second in the league with 20 missed tackles forced. Only Jordan Mason of the 49ers has more forced missed tackles. Pro Football Focus also gave Singletary the sixth-highest Elusive rating (a stat measuring the success and impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking).
Singeltary has solid individual statistics but only averages 3.9 yards per carry. The offesnvie line has to do a better job opening up holes, sustaining blocks, and locating the penetrating second-level defenders. The run blocking is better than the 2023 season, but only marginally, and I expect it to improve slightly. The pass blocking is much better, but could still improve.
