The Giants are masters at figuring out how to get younger on the offensive line.
Improving is the hard part.
Just when it looked like the offensive line wouldn’t be a major emphasis on the low season for the first time in a decade, the Giants cut right guard Kevin Zeitler for $ 12 million in salary cap savings that would go to the passing player franchise label. Nate Solder could also disappear if the parties do not quickly agree on a restructured contract, an opportunity that was never presented to Zeitler, a source told The Post.
The Giants will enter free agency with a setup of left-back Andrew Thomas, left-guard Will Hernandez, center-back Nick Gates, right-back Shane Lemieux and right-back Matt Peart / Solder. Here are the two very different ways to turn the situation around:
Got half full
Super Bowl 60 champion Giants reviews the 2018-2020 drafts as the basis for their 2025 championship. The five home line men met then — drawn in the first, second, third, and sixth rounds, and completed. for an undrawn jewel- and they came to be a sum better than the individual parts. As General Manager Dave Gettleman envisioned when he pledged to prioritize fixing the line in December 2017.
This is the dream, anyway. Loan of a similar plan used by the Giants during their last two Super Bowl victories.
The Giants finally have a core capable of fulfilling the football proverb that lines need time and patience to build chemistry. The five incumbents (outside Solder) are over 25 and combined will only account for $ 15.5 million over the 2021 limit, compared to Solder’s $ 16.5 million pre-restructured position. Hernandez enters his running stage, but the other four are signed for at least two more seasons.
And there is the opportunity to provide competition. The salary cap caused by COVID-19 fell from the projected $ 210 million to $ 182.5 million, prompting the Giants to choose their best defensive line over their best offensive line.
Zeitler is an example of league-wide blood this week. There’s a chance to find two quality veterans for the price of their $ 12 million salary, especially if Gettleman-connected Pro Bowl keepers Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell hit the market. A quality left guard could help Thomas reach the next level, after a mostly strong finish.
“While I struggled, especially at the start of the season, he showed me enough growth and improvement during the season to be optimistic about his future,” NFL network analyst Joe Thomas told The Post, Future Hall of Fame. “I think it still has a chance to be a franchise, but it will have to work and improve continuously.”
Half empty glass
Here’s another way to look at the headlines: Thomas allowed the second-highest pressure (57) in the NFL, Hernandez lost his starting job in the middle of last season and didn’t play the final, Gates was the No. 27 center ranked by Pro Football Focus, Lemieux was the NFL’s lowest pitch blocking guard, Peart has a career start and Solder allowed the third sack in the NFL (11) when he last played in 2019.
“These are more questions than answers,” an NFL scout said about the league’s No. 31 line last season. “Thomas was chosen first, but he clearly ranked fourth among last year’s rookie players.”
If the goal of the Giants season – as it should be – is to give a definitive answer as to whether or not Daniel Jones is the quarterback in the franchise, this line is capable of imploding and creating the excuses that the Jets stay. eliminating this season when determining the future of Sam Darnold.
Get what you pay for.
While an unexpected number of top-tier liners are available and oversupply can reduce the price of the free agent, the Giants still have to make the right decision by eliminating the masses to get an upgrade.
Faith could be dislocated given recent offensive line-up calculations: Solder and Patrick Omameh were busts of free agents in 2018 and neither Hernandez nor Thomas have lived up to their draft status until now, and a history of over-reliance during the post-Super Bowl years on marginal additions, Jon Halapio, Spencer Pulley, Jamon Brown, Brett Jones, Marshall Newhouse, JD Walton and Bobby Hart.
The resources devoted to the line once again detract from the ability to address other urgent needs of a receiver no. 1, a bona fide runner and an NFL No. 2 cornerback.