New York Giants co-owner John Mara expressed his frustration with the team’s “ridiculous” decade-long offensive struggles this offseason. Mara acknowledged that the revamped offensive line looked “a little shaky” a week into training camp, but he expressed confidence in the players added in free agency and new position coach Carmen Bricillo to finally fix the Achilles heel that has plagued the franchise.
With the Giants nearing the three-week mark of camp, questions still linger about the line. The five projected starters for the season opener have not taken a single practice rep together. One of the projected starters, Greg Van Roten, signed a week into camp.
Van Roten is expected to start at right guard, but he has spent most of his seven practices at center because John Michael Schmitz has been dealing with a shoulder injury. Schmitz got hurt in the third practice of camp and only returned to individual drills this week. The Giants are ramping up Schmitz’s workload after he missed eight practices, so it’s unlikely he’ll play in the second preseason game on Saturday at Houston when the starters are expected to play the first half.
There have been other position adjustments early in camp. Jermaine Eluemunor spent all offseason preparing to be the starting left guard. Then he showed up for training camp and was promptly moved to right tackle because Evan Neal’s surgically repaired ankle wasn’t ready.
With Eluemunor penciled in at left guard, Jon Runyan had been preparing to play right guard. But once the Giants signed Van Roten, who started 17 games at right guard for the Raiders last season, Runyan shifted to the left side.
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Runyan has split his career evenly between right and left guard, mostly playing on the right side the past two seasons in Green Bay. Eluemunor mostly played right tackle for the past two seasons in Las Vegas. So the early camp adjustments haven’t sent them to foreign positions. But it’s still not ideal that the team’s two biggest O-line signings are at different spots than they were planning to play.
“The whole flip-flopping thing is tough going from one side to the other, left to right,” Runyan said on the third day of camp before his switch. “So (you’re) trying to build some cohesion with whatever side you’re going on. It’s tough going from the left side to the right side. Your whole body has to change. Everything’s just reflected and your whole eyes and feet and hands, it’s all different. It’s nice being able to stick on one side.”
The only constant has been left tackle Andrew Thomas, whose value was demonstrated last season when the offense became dysfunctional during his seven-week absence due to a hamstring injury. The tackle depth remains a concern, although Neal, despite the disappointing start to his career as a top-10 pick, should be an upgrade at swing tackle over Josh Ezeudu.
Eventually, the line should feature Thomas, Runyan, Schmitz, Van Roten and Eluemunor from left to right. Thomas is an All-Pro level talent, while Runyan, Van Roten and Eluemunor are at least capable NFL veterans. The jury is out on Schmitz, who underwhelmed as a second-round rookie and now has missed valuable developmental time.
With Schmitz’s return on the horizon, coach Brian Daboll has redeployed the rotations he’s used in the past. In Monday’s practice, Van Roten started each 11-on-11 team period at center with Aaron Stinnie at right guard. After two plays, Van Roten moved to right guard and Austin Schlottmann came in at center. After two more plays, Schlottmann stayed at center and Stinnie returned to right guard.
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There are a few contributing factors to the rotation. The Giants clearly are managing the workload of the 34-year-old Van Roten, who signed a week into camp “just really coming off the couch,” as Daboll said. And if Schmitz were to miss time during the season, it seems like the plan would be to move Van Roten to center and insert Stinnie at right guard. Otherwise, the Giants could have just used Schlottmann at center during Schmitz’s absence so Van Roten could focus on playing guard.
It’s unsettling that the Giants have been shuffling the line so much after having all offseason to address what general manager Joe Schoen emphasized as a priority. But they at least have been proactive in addressing weak spots, like signing Van Roten and moving Eluemunor to right tackle. Neal’s injury is unfortunate, but it forced the Giants’ hand to upgrade the right tackle position. Neal returned to practice this week, but his starting job has been relinquished.
Bricillo said in the spring he’d like to have the starting offensive line set coming out of the final preseason game. Schmitz will return to team drills in a limited capacity on Tuesday, but Runyan will be sidelined by a shoulder injury. Assuming Runyan’s injury is minor, the five starters should get three practices, including a joint session with the Jets, leading into the preseason finale (assuming everyone else remains healthy).
It’s not ideal, but the Giants shouldn’t have any delusions of this group forming a top unit. They should settle for functional at this point. They have less than four weeks to reach that level.
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Corner conundrum
Cornerback is the other position likely giving Schoen and Daboll agita through the first three weeks of camp. The Giants need Deonte Banks to ascend to cornerback No. 1 status in his second season. There’s no Plan B, so the Giants simply need their 2023 first-round pick to build on promising flashes as a rookie.
Even if Banks makes that leap, there’s still a glaring question at the other cornerback spot. Cor’Dale Flott struggled after entering camp as the No. 2 corner. He then missed the preseason opener with a quad injury that has kept him sidelined this week. That has opened the door for Nick McCloud to make a push for the job.
McCloud has been a valuable backup capable of playing multiple spots since being claimed after cut day in 2022. But his experience as an every-down corner on the perimeter is limited. McCloud is a feisty player who brings a necessary edge to the defense, but it’s unclear if he’s equipped to cover perimeter receivers as a starter.
The Giants also rotated Tre Hawkins with Banks early in camp. That seemed like an attempt to get the 2023 sixth-round pick an opportunity with the first-team defense without cutting into Flott’s reps. But Hawkins hasn’t looked like the player who was so impressive in camp as a rookie that he forced his way into the starting lineup before getting benched.
There’s a notion that cornerbacks aren’t as vital in new coordinator Shane Bowen’s defense because he relies more on zone coverage. That’s not supported by any evidence, however.
The Titans ranked 31st in pass defense in Bowen’s three seasons as the team’s DC. The idea that a zone-based defense prevents big pass plays is countered by the Titans allowing the third-most completions of 20 yards or more over the past three seasons.
Former Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s man-heavy coverage scheme allowed the eighth fewest completions of 20 yards or more over the past two seasons. The Giants were 16th in passing defense over the past two seasons.
The Giants’ personnel in the secondary is worse — or at least far more inexperienced — than a year ago, with Flott/McCloud replacing Adoree’ Jackson; and Dane Belton or Tyler Nubin replacing Xavier McKinney.
There’s justifiable hope that a pass rush led by Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux can relieve some of the burden on the unproven secondary. But the Titans had quality pass rushers in recent seasons — Harold Landry, Denico Autry, Jeffery Simmons — and the pass defense was still among the worst in the league.
The bottom line is it’s hard to have a quality pass defense without quality cornerback play. There are still proven veterans available — Jackson, Stephon Gilmore, Xavien Howard — but there have been no indications the Giants are planning to shop that market to address the position.
This is what happens in a rebuild. Rather than signing a stopgap, the Giants seem intent on living through the growing pains with their young corners and hoping their evaluations are validated.
Major changes
The Giants conducted a light training camp last year aimed at keeping players healthy for the season. The result: They were demolished 40-0 in the season opener, then out-scored 167-60 during a 1-5 start and still endured a rash of injuries to key players.
Needless to say, that type of start caused Daboll to reflect on how he prepared the team for the season. The changes this offseason have been stark.
The Giants conducted one period of seven-on-seven during each spring practice because they didn’t want to expose quarterback Daniel Jones to a pass rush while he was recovering from a torn ACL. And in training camp, the Giants and Lions conducted a period of seven-on-seven at the start of each of their two joint practices. Otherwise, the Giants have exclusively conducted 11-on-11 work in team periods this offseason.
That’s an enormous shift. The Giants have held 11 intrasquad practices this summer. Jones hasn’t thrown a single pass in seven-on-seven during those sessions. He threw 50 passes in seven-on-seven drills through the first 11 practices of camp last year. Daboll used seven-on-seven drills sparingly in his first camp in 2022.
Those seven-on-seven attempts have been directly replaced by 11-on-11 work. Jones has 205 attempts in 11-on-11 periods through 13 practices this camp. He had 157 attempts in 11-on-11 periods through 13 practices of last year’s camp.
The Giants also have practiced in full pads more this year. Tuesday will be their seventh practice of camp in full pads. A league-mandated acclimation period prevented the Giants from wearing full pads in their first four practices, so they will be in full pads for seven of 10 possible practices this summer.
The Giants wore full pads for seven of 19 training camp practices last year. That was down from 10 of 19 camp practices in 2022. The CBA allows teams to conduct a maximum of 16 fully padded practices during camp.
Two of the Giants’ practices during this camp have lasted at least two hours: A grueling two-hour, one-minute session in 92-degree heat on Aug. 2 and a physical two-hour, two-minute practice on Monday. Daboll never had a practice reach the two-hour mark in his first two training camps.
The Giants’ established starters barely broke a sweat last preseason, with Jones and other top offensive veterans only playing one series in the three games. Running back Saquon Barkley didn’t play a snap in the preseason.
The starters understandably got the night off from this year’s preseason opener after two physical joint practices with the Lions, and the plans for next week’s finale against the Jets aren’t yet known. But the healthy starters are expected to play the first half — at least — against the Texans on Saturday.
Despite ratcheting up the intensity, Daboll’s camp won’t be confused with Bear Bryant’s “Junction Boys.” The Giants never do live tackling to the ground in practice or run conditioning sprints. They typically practice for three straight days and then get a day off. The CBA only requires players get one day off per week during training camp. So Daboll essentially gives players an extra day off per week than is required.
Still, players have noted the difference this year.
“I think there’s a sense of urgency to win,” veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton said. “I think that’s what he’s trying to create. We’re playing a lot of 11-on-11, we have padded practices, trying to get both of our fronts going — our O-line and our D-line are going to be really important to our success this year. I think it’s all in trying to push toward playing winning football.”
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(Photo of Marcellus Johnson, Jalen Mayfield and Austin Schlottmann: Perry Knotts / Getty Images)
