Heading into the offseason, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen had a pretty long to-do list. At the top of the list was fixing his leaky offensive line, which had allowed the most sacks (85) in a single season in the NFL since 1986.
The Giants suffered injuries to key players last season, forcing them to focus on signing backups and free agents for most of the season.
The inside of the defensive line was like a turnstile, offering little stability to the attack and weak punching power.
Additionally, with starting tackles Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal and rookie center John Michael Schmitz all sidelined with serious injuries, the Giants had a hard time finding replacements.
Head coach Brian Daboll doesn’t want to go through that drill again. He fired unit coach Bobby Johnson and replaced him with Carmen Brisillo.
And in March’s free-agent market, Schoen went shopping, signing several veteran offensive linemen with starting experience and versatility.
Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus I believe this was the best decision Sean made in the offseason.
This is more of a “best strategy.” The Giants didn’t add any big names in free agency on the offensive line, but they did sign Jermaine Ellumuno, John Runyon, Aaron Stinney and Austin Schlottman. The sum of those four represents new life, and the Giants needed flexibility to improve the unit starting in 2023 after signing the league’s lowest-rated offensive line (47.2).
But the line’s transformation isn’t quite complete yet, and over the course of three offseasons, Schoen has left his mark on the unit, only surpassed by All-Pro Thomas in his tenure.
Schoen will have no one to blame but himself for the failures of his offensive line going forward.
