It was an ugly preseason performance, but the Giants might be willing to meet with critics regarding their offensive line.
The Giants withdrew from a deep zone to tackle a weak zone on Monday when they traded defensive end BJ Hill to the Bengals for an offensive tackle Billy Price, according to sources. Hill did not play Sunday against the Patriots, suggesting he was protected from injury and that trade talks were underway before the offensive line sounded the alarms by allowing four sacks and 11 quarterback attacks.
“I saw some things that were very encouraging and obviously the things that we’ve talked about as staff that we need to make sure we focus on and really improve these next two weeks to give our team a chance,” he said. coach Joe Judge said. “Offensive offenders work as a unit and continue with chemistry, whether it’s five, six, seven or eight guys spinning through those positions.”
It is unknown how much Price, 27, can silence the noise. On the one hand, he is a former first-round pick with central flexibility and protection. On the other hand, he started just one game on Pro Football Focus ’No. 30 offensive line (the Giants were No. 31), while staying healthy all last season.
Despite the annual struggles at the helm, the Giants ’plan for the season was to start five players 25 and under, none of whom have established credentials. They cut their best blocker (Kevin Zeitler) to make way for the salary cap for receiver Kenny Golladay, promoted Will Hernandez to the starting position and did not sign a free agent for a contract worth more than $ 1.2 million nor did they use any of the six drafts. peaks in the line.
“You don’t want it to be good enough, you want it to be good, simple and straightforward,” CEO Dave Gettleman said on May 1st. “It ‘s really clear that we have a little more confidence in our offensive liners than [media members] do. So I’ll just say we’re happy with the group we have. “
Then he passed the training camp. And reasons to be unhappy mounted.
Left guard Shane Lemieux (knee) is out on July 29, right-back Matt Peart is on the verge of losing his job to Nate Solder after 609 days of dismissal between games and two deep veterans – Joe Looney and Zach Fulton – Retired Unexpectedly Kenny Wiggins struggled as the first lift to replace Lemieux and was replaced on Sunday by teammate Ted Larsen, who is suffering from an injury.
“We’re trying to delve deeper into the offensive line through the march while training everyone every day,” the judge said. “Everyone is at a different point of development, so I can’t worry about comparing our program to someone else. We will train who we have available “.
Price’s addition does nothing to calm the line’s biggest problem, and not just because he ranked No. 73 out of 74 NFL guards who played at least 300 snapshots when he made eight of his 19 career starts on 2019.
Left-back Andrew Thomas, No. 4 in the 2020 draft, was routinely defeated against the Patriots by little-known Josh Uche. Out-of-season foot surgery and a year of experience were supposed to be the cure for Thomas, which allowed the second-highest pressure in the league (57) as a rookie.
“The importance is to take everything on the tape and make sure we base ourselves on the positive and eliminate the negative things,” the judge said. “It simply came to our notice then [first three opponents] Denver, Washington and Atlanta are watching the same tape we are at the moment, so we have to make sure we are clear and efficient in correcting it. ”
Hill, a 2018 third-round pick who started 12 games as a rookie but zero last season behind Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence, became a dispensable for the Giants when youngsters Raymond Johnson and David Moa started to play. There was “a lot” of interest in Hill, the judge said.
“I think he’s a first defensive player in this league,” the judge said. “I think this is an opportunity to improve our team and put a player for whom we respect a lot in the position to go out and collect initial money. I think it works very well for both parties. “