The 2023 season has quickly gone off the rails for the New York Giants. There is a lot to work on if they are going to have any chance of turning things around. But, the No. 1 priority has to be figuring out the offensive line woes.
The Giants have been receiving all-time poor marks from their players in the trenches. Not having All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas certainly hurts, as they have turned to Joshua Ezeudu, who is normally a guard, to replace him. The results have been as disastrous as you would expect.
Ezeudu is currently ranked No. 70 out of 72 qualified tackles based on PFF’s grades with a 40.6. His bookend, Evan Neal, is 71st with a 36.1 overall grade. Guard Mark Glowinski is 58th out of 78 players with a 51.1. Sadly, he is the best of the bunch as rookie Marcus McKethan is 69th with a 46.4 and Shane Lemieux is last with a 34.3. At center, rookie John Michael Schmitz Jr. is ranked 32nd out of 37 with a 49 and Ben Bredesen is 35th with a 44.2.
Those are embarrassing marks and at some point, the coaching staff needs to be looked at. Glowinski was a serviceable veteran with the Indianapolis Colts before coming to the Giants. Neal, Ezeudu, Schmitz and Matt Peart were all selected in the first three rounds of their respective drafts. What has changed other than the coaching they are receiving?
Everything needs to be evaluated at this point, including the personnel. A portion of the blame certainly has to go on the players and general manager Joe Schoen is looking to shake things up.
Veteran Justin Pugh, who was drafted by the Giants in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, was signed last week to the practice squad and is already bringing some much-needed leadership to the locker room. He was the first but not the last change being made.
New York also signed Yodny Cajuste, a third-round pick of the New England Patriots in the 2019 NFL Draft. He has yet to play this season but was serviceable in 2022 with an overall grade of 65.7, excelling as a run-blocker with a grade of 72.4.
Another name to keep an eye on is free agent La’el Collins. He was set to visit with the Giants and New York Jets, but it sounds as if he could be leaning toward Big Blue. According to UStadium, Collins is undergoing a physical with the Giants.
Pugh, Cajuste and Collins are all capable of helping on the interior of the offensive line. Collins has spent the last few seasons as a right tackle, providing the team with a versatile option to really shake things up in the trenches.
A change had to come eventually as the current group of players was not getting the job done. It would have been organizational malpractice by the Giants to keep running the same groupings out there as they are putting quarterback Daniel Jones in harms way behind such a poor blocking offensive line.
