Van Roten thinks the Giants’ young linemen will take a step forward this year
The New York Giants were back on the practice field on Wednesday, giving us our first look at what will eventually become the 2025 team.
While the quarterback position got the most attention, there’s still plenty of interest in the Giants’ offensive line.
And while the Giants will have some new faces in their offensive line room, 35-year old guard Greg Van Roten is of the familiar faces from a year ago.
“I was hoping to come back,” Van Roten said. “I was glad that conversation started sooner than last year, so it worked out and I’m happy to be here.”
On the Giants’ quarterback situation
There are plenty of storylines regarding the Giants’ 2025 off season and regular season. But the most important of them is the quarterback situation. There isn’t intrigue or anything like a quarterback competition. However we’ve seen the most dramatic change in the Giants’ quarterback in about twenty years.
So it makes sense that just about every veteran player will be asked about the Giants’ three new quarterbacks.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of personalities in that room,” Van Roten said. “They’re all different. Not that one’s better than the other. Russ is definitely very detailed. Jameis is a great locker room guy, Tommy is Tommy, and then we’re learning about Jaxson, seeing what he’s all about. They all bring something kind of unique and special to the room, so it’s going to be exciting to watch them kind of progress throughout the off season in training camp.”
Wilson has already been named the Giants’ starter and took the lion’s share of the starting reps in the Giants’ OTA on Wednesday.
“Russ (Wilson), he’s been there, done that, he’s been the league a long time, competed at a high level – 10 Pro Bowls, Super Bowl, been to two, a lot of experience and he’s just been a really good voice to have in the offensive room.”
Van Roten mentioned how important it can be to have an experienced quarterback who’s played the game at the highest level.
“As far as the little things where it’s like, we’ll watch a clip, he’ll go back like, ‘Hey, look at this over here, make sure we watch this.’ Like no stone goes unturned with him and that’s very important,” Van Roten said. “I think a lot of guys this time of year are like, all right, it’s OTAs, it’s May, but that’s not his mindset and that’s going to trickle down to our offense and that’s important with him.”
As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. It’ll be interesting to see if having that veteran voice in the classroom will impact the Giants’ performance this year.
OL competition
The Giants’ offensive line is always a hot topic. Van Roten is high on the Giants’ offensive line room, particularly if the starters stay healthy. The Giants’ offensive line wasn’t a problem last year, at least not until injuries set in, and the team has done work to build up the line’s depth.
“Specifically, the offensive line, we are deep, so there’s a lot of depth. There’s a lot of talent,” he said. “Marcus [Mbow] looks like he can be a good player. Jake [Kubas] showed a lot of promise and last year hoping to build on that in year two.”
Van Roten was complimentary of a number of the Giants’ young players. In particular, he believes center John Michael Schmitz will emerge as “The Guy” in his third year.
“I love playing next to John,” Van Roten said. “He’s a really, really smart center and I think he’s taken steps every year and hopefully this year, year three, you want to take another step. You want to be the guy and I think he is the guy, and we’ll just keep going.”
The Giants also made news with Evan Neal moving inside to guard — left guard, as it happens. It was somewhat expected that Neal would play right guard, however it’s worth noting that left guard was the position at which he played most of the 2019 season for Alabama.
Van Roten noted that while guards might not have to move as much, things happen faster on the interior thanks to the “Very dynamic” defensive linemen in the NFL today. The veteran doesn’t think a move inside to guard is any easier than playing tackle — just different.
“I don’t think so, honestly, with the ability that you see that these defensive linemen these days, they’re not these big fat slugs anymore,” he said. “They’re very athletic, dynamic. You look at the young guy that we drafted in the third round, he’s a big dude, but he’s very athletic. And then you look at (defensive lineman) Dex (Lawrence) inside, that is not someone I would say that is I want in a phone booth (laughs). Just me personally. Yeah, they’re closer to you, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easier to block them.”
Overall, the Giants are set to have competition at a number of spots on the offensive line.
“We’re all competing,” Van Roten said. “Nothing is set in stone. This is May, so you’ve got to earn it every day. And that’s a reason I think that I’ve been able to stick around the league for 14 years because I don’t think that I’ve earned anything or anything should be handed to me. I’m sure Evan feels the same way. I’m sure Jake feels the same way. There’s a lot of guys in our room and the reality of the situation, we will have nine or 10 at the end of the training camp, so you just want to be in that nine or 10.”
Knicks in seven
Ultimately, the Giants hope to be in the same place that the New York Knicks are in right now: Playing in a conference championship for the chance to play for a league championship.
Of course, the Knicks aren’t in a great position, down 3-1 to the Indiana Pacers, but Van Roten is still pulling for the Knicks to win.
He said, “Yeah, hopefully Knicks in seven now – we were saying Knicks in six, but Knicks in seven.”
Van Roten did get to go to the first game in the series, which the Knicks lost in dramatic fasion. “I went to game one, so that was shocking, but hopefully we figure it out. I’m excited.”
“I bought my own tickets, took the train. I’m a man of the people,” he said with a laugh.
