SEPTEMBER 17: Thomas is indeed inactive for Sunday’s game, as the Giants will play it safe with their blindside blocker. An improved performance compared to Week 1 will be needed up front for New York, but their O-line will be shorthanded against the Cardinals.
SEPTEMBER 14: First- or second-round picks are stationed at both tackle spots and center along the Giants’ offensive line, but middling guard investments join the Andrew Thomas–Evan Neal–John Michael Schmitz trio. Against the Cowboys, the Giants’ O-line plan did not hold up.
Dallas’ top-tier pass rush sacked Daniel Jones seven times and tallied 15 quarterback hits in the 40-0 drubbing Sunday night. ESPN’s pass block win rate metric graded both Neal and right guard Mark Glowinski in the bottom three at their respective positions in Week 1, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan notes.
The team used Glowinski and Ben Bredeson as its guard starters. This came after a lengthy competition, one that featured 2022 third-round pick Joshua Ezeudu vying for a role. The Giants expected Ezeudu to beat out Bredeson, a 2021 trade acquisition, for the left guard job, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post notes. This optimism helped influence the Giants to not pursue a notable free agency guard addition. The team had been mentioned as interested in retaining Nick Gates, but the Commanders signed him and deployed the ex-Giants starter at center in Week 1.
The Giants preferred to devote funds to retaining their own talent this offseason, giving Jones, Thomas and Dexter Lawrence pricey extensions. Saquon Barkley‘s $10.1MM franchise tag also limited how Big Blue could devote its free agency dollars. The team had also given Glowinski a three-year, $18.3MM deal ($11.4MM guaranteed) in 2022. Despite Pro Football Focus rating Glowinski as a top-30 guard last year, the Giants held a three-way guard battle in training camp. The 31-year-old blocker kept his RG gig but enters Week 2 under a microscope after his showing against the Cowboys.
Outside options do exist at guard for the Giants. Justin Pugh, who began his career with the team and started at guard and tackle following a 2013 first-round investment, has expressed interest in rejoining the team. Pugh, 33, is coming off a torn ACL sustained in October of last year. The five-year Cardinals starter said he was eyeing a Giants return in August, though the Syracuse alum has not been closely tied to a team since he received clearance to resume football work.
Oddly, Dalton Risner also remains a free agent. The four-year Broncos starter entered free agency as, at worst, a second-tier option at guard. But he did not sign anywhere and took the surprising path of remaining unattached entering the year. A handful of teams showed interest in Risner, who may well be waiting for an injury to shake up a team’s O-line plans. The 28-year-old blocker probably qualifies as the top option available.
Elsewhere on New York’s O-line, Thomas is battling a strained hamstring. An MRI revealed the All-Pro left tackle avoided a serious setback, per Raanan, but it is possible he misses some time. Injured after the Giants’ botched field goal attempt that resulted in a Cowboys TD, Thomas did not practice Wednesday. This offseason, the Giants gave the 2020 first-rounder a five-year, $117.5MM deal that sits second among tackles.
Matt Peart, a 2020 third-round pick, sits as the Giants’ swing tackle, though Schwartz adds Ezeudu has taken LT reps in practice over the past two weeks. Ezeudu spent time at tackle while at North Carolina. Moving to left tackle after failing to win a starting guard job in his second training camp might make be a stretch. Peart has not made a start since 2021; the UConn alum has six career starts.
Largest shutout win in the Cowboys’ history … Daniel Jones still in the game in the 4th quarter … Giants have an NFC West road trip to Arizona and San Fran … yet the NYC media goes easy on the Giants cos they’re anointed for the Super League.
Giants can very well be 0-3 when they host Seattle on MNF.
How did the NY media go easy on them? I’ve heard nothing but the word embarrassment all week long.
How are your Jets doing, Chucky? Maybe you should stop worrying about the Giants and start thinking about whether or not the Jets will go another half of a century before winning their next Super Bowl.
There Giants lied to themselves. They barely beat average teams last year. Many 1 score games to back that up. But decided it was a core group of players that were just poorly coached by the last guy. That’s backfiring.
I’m still amazingly curious as to why the Bears will continue to play pathetic Lucas Patrick at C and not sign Risner and move Whitehair back to C since Jenkins and Davis seem to be injured or away for “Personal Reasons ” all the time. What is it about this guy who seems to be a more than capable G that nobody will sign him? He would seem to be a fit for multiple teams but is still unemployed. SMH
Crazy, way-to-early, thought….With B/R reporting that NYG brought in 0 OL this week, I am wondering if maybe Shoen is saying lets see if DAL was aberration or real. In other words, if this O Line and Jones and others suck it up again against AZ why cant Shoen tank the season. Think about it. Next offseason, Shoen will have 0 dead cap (the team has 23mil dead cap this year), Shoen will loose the 32mil from Leonard Williams, the 19mil from Adoree Jackson, the 5mil from Parris Campbell and the 10mil from Barkley. On top of that, he can cut Glowniski and save 5mil and cut Waller and save 5mil. He can also cut Jones and Okereke after next season and pay nothing. So whats to say Shoen didnt think that maybe last season wasnt a fluke and if his team really does suck this season, he has fully created an out/escape plan to dump everyone…..He likes Jones but if Jones sucks, hes only stuck with him for 1 more year where you can draft Caleb Williams (if you loose to AZ you suck enough to possibly be the worst team in the NFL) and have Caleb play behind Jones next year in a rebuilding year…..like I said, crazy way to early thought, but looking at spotrac, it seems Shoen wasnt 100% sold on this team this year the way he set up contracts for the future
It’s not out of the realm of possibilities. Remember, his mentor was Beane, who followed a similar route with the Bills. First season was a playoff and then he retooled the team when there was more cap flexibility.
And Beane may consider doing so again if Buffalo disappoints this year…doubtful, but I could see it.
It’s just one game into the season, so these types of things are all a bit early to say. I doubt that New York gives in early, but it is possible to think forward like that and Schoen seems to have that type of calculative personality. I think a lot of that has to depend on two things-how much does Schoen see last year as an aberration, and who does he think will be available and worth rebuilding around in the next two offseasons?
Tanking for the duration of the Jones contract would be an interesting way to rebuild-meaning that they spent the money in years where they are planning to not compete, and using the draft to slowly add players. However, it still eats up the cap and ties them to Jones until 2027 (his hit is $58 million in 2026). They do have an out in 2026, though. Jones’ dead cap then is only $11 million. It doesn’t look like this contract was built to wait it out, to be honest. It looks like it was built to win now. For that reason, it would be really hard for Schoen to waste a year of the Jones deal where his hit is only $15 million. Next year, it’ll jump to $47 million, and star there for 2025. What seems more likely is an offensive line redo and possibly a defensive makeover. The former seems necessary. I’ll admit that I loved the Evan Neal pick when it happened, but he’s crashed hard in the league since coming in. Maybe he’ll rebound like Cam Robinson did, but right now, he’s been tough to watch.
Dallas would have had twice the hits that they did if Jones was not mobile. Dallas is a good defense all around, especially in the front seven, but the Giants’ line and receivers let them down badly. I think that if this year stays the way it is (it’s very hard to make upgrades during the season, but they may get lucky), Barkley will be go out the door as it seems that he will, and New York will retool the line for next year. That means that they could be open to trying to have Williams stick around for another year while they use those assets on the offense. The receiver room could use an upgrade as is, but that line is worrisome and they’ll be tied to the Jones deal until 2026 at the earliest.
Slick move, because their O-Line was so dominate against Dallas on Monday night.
Where are all the “give him a chance” Jones’ apologists?
$30M for a QB who’s lived off pure luck starting with being drafted #6.
“He’s never had the supporting WRs”
Yeah, okay, hold on to that crutch with both hands as tight as you can lol
7 sacks and 15 QB hits if you read the article. The line is a sieve.
It’s literally true though that he hasn’t had a good WR corps yet. Or a good offensive line. Not a Jones fan but he has not been given any help aside from Barkley.
So why pay him, one player, $30M/Yr instead of prioritizing signing those missing pieces regardless of who’s behind center?
Off the top of my head, with that $30M give Jacoby Brisett (sp?) a two year contract AND sign receivers
Stop throwing good money after bad
ijs
Well, he just led the Giants to their biggest comeback in 74 years. 103.5 QBR and that includes the interception that bounced out of Barkley’s hands.
He’s also one of the best rushing QBs in the league.
But yeah, I really really wish they went after Jacoby Brissett.
QB salaries are just getting out of control in general. Jones’ contract is brand new and there are already 11 QBs with higher salaries than him. I think 12th in the league is just about right. In a couple of years he’ll be one of the lowest paid in the league.
Not to mention, they’re able to cut him after next year with no dead money because it was structured extremely well.
You’re not getting a starting QB for under $30 mil unless he’s a rookie. There are 17 QBs making that and several are worse than Jones. The only starters that aren’t on rookie deals making less than $30 mil are Geno and Garoppolo who are both making $25 mil.
Everyone’s QB contract expectations are just completely skewed. This is what the market is.
Jacoby Brissett is a one way ticket to another top 5 pick. He’s a career backup for a reason. Again, I’m not the biggest Jones fan but he’s never had a good offensive line or a good, healthy WR corps. They’ve drafted OL and WR recently. It’s up to the team, not Jones, to get them healthy and developed properly.
That comeback was equal parts Danilo & Barkley.
Hopefully Saquon isn’t hurt or misses any time because the team is absolutely f’d without him.
Salaries based on position will lead to the deterioration of the NFL.
There’s no standard by which Daniel Jones is worth $30M … none that passes The Laugh Test. “Running QB” is the most laughable of all. It reminds me of what Mickey Mantle said about Stolen Bases “had I known it would become such a big deal, I would’ve done it every time I got on base”
It’s not a QB skill set … more to the point, it’s not sustainable for long
Anyway, it’s 100% my opinion: Jones will always be the QB on a team that wins just like Trent Dilfer; although Dilfer has used his ring to deflect arguments about his blatant mediocrity
There ya go: imagine a team paying Dilfer the equivalent of $30M for his era.
It’s just a completely unfair comparison though.
Dilfer’s career QBR was 70.2
Jones is at 85.7
Dilfer’s career comp % was 55.5% and he never reached 60 in 13 years. Jones is at 63.8% for his career and has never been below 60.
Dilfer had a 113 / 139 TD/INT ratio. Jones is 60 / 36.
Jones has already thrown for more than half of Dilfer’s career yardage total.
He’s almost matched Dilfer’s entire career passing value in just 55 games.
And whether you agree with it or not, the running ability helps win games. He had 718 yards and 7 TDs rushing last year which is more than Dilfer’s entire career in just one season.
He’s not a star but he’s a more than serviceable starting QB. He’s in the upper-half of the league, which is exactly how he’s being paid. Nobody can name 15 QBs that are legitimately better than he is without being disingenuous. Nobody’s arguing that he’s a top QB, but he’s being paid exactly where his value is relative to the market.
I 100% agree that QBs in general are being grossly overpaid, and none of them should be receiving such a huge percentage of their teams cap. But that’s what it’s evolved into now.
lmao the fact that you’re comparing Jones to Dilfer proves you’re clueless. Dilfer was a very below average QB, just barely a starter. At worst, Jones is average. If you watched the game today, a comeback like that would have been miles beyond Dilfer’s abilities.
From google: Daniel Jones has a 21-32-1 record in his career.
That is a well below average QB. At some time, the QB has to be responsible for their record. Keep preaching Sethesq. The Giants barely beat 500 teams last year. Plenty of 1 score wins. Look it up. It was a ridiculous signing that will get both the HC & GM fire.
And who plays QB if they turned away from Jones…..Colt McCoy, Foles, etc….
The Giants had all offseason to sort that out.
Okay, so if they go the route you suggest, and not sign Jones to his contract, those “missing pieces” on the line have be to available……were they or did we miss something…..seems like any elite linemen weren’t available via the free agent route and certainly weren’t via the trade……wishful thinking…..the Giants, like any other team, needs to draft smart, develop their own, and not let them leave when blossoming into a good line……
The current GM & HC drafted their LT was awful against Dallas. To me, it seems like they whiffed on both their LT & QB positions. That gets people fired. It’s going to be a long season for the Giants.
Copied from a NY article: ‘After a putrid rookie season, the expectation was for Neal to take a big step forward this season. Through one game, that progression seems unlikely. Neal looked like an ever worse version of himself on Sunday night compared to his rookie season.’