Giants' O-line expectations high after dozen years of reconstruction

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The left guard has kicked out to right tackle. The right guard has flipped to left guard. The originally projected starting right tackle just came off the physically unable to perform list. The second-year center, still in need of proving he's any good in the first place, missed eight straight practices before returning this week.

All in the first three weeks of training camp for the New York Giants offensive line.

This might simply be par for the course if the Giants weren't in Year 12 of their offensive line rebuild. Yep, for a dozen years they haven't been able to get it right. An amazing achievement considering at some point you'd think it would happen by accident, by luck.

Over that span, the Giants have tried everything -- from drafting regularly in the Top 10 (Ereck Flowers, Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal) and using Day 2 picks (Weston Richburg, Matt Peart, Joshua Ezeudu and John Michael Schmitz Jr.) to signing players to record deals (Nate Solder), only to see too many of them flop. The drought has stretched multiple regimes and decades. It's as if the franchise is paying penance for the beating quarterback Eli Manning took from the San Francisco 49ers in that 2012 NFC Championship Game.

In a season where the Giants must finally start getting their line right, they're off to an ominous start. It doesn't mean they won't get there (they have four proven veterans who have at least played at an average or better level throughout their careers), it just might take longer than they would have liked this summer.

The plan, now, is to have Thomas at left tackle, Jon Runyan Jr. at left guard, Schmitz at center, Greg Van Roten at right guard and Jermaine Eluemunor at right tackle. Thomas is an All-Pro left tackle, Runyan and Eluemunor were key offseason free-agent acquisitions, Van Roten was signed this summer coming off the best season of his career and Schmitz was a second-round pick last year coming off a rough rookie season.

It is a group that has potential ... if it can finally get settled. If there is one position group where chemistry matters, it's the offensive line.

"You love to have all the guys on the field, but the reality is they're not," coach Brian Daboll said. "Again, you'll have your five guys and anyone behind them has to be able to play multiple positions when they go to a game, if they dress for a game, for injury purposes.

"Most places I've been, it's been a constant shuffle to go ahead and evaluate this time of year. I would have loved for it to just be the five guys that were going to be in there. That's not the case, but people are getting valuable reps and guys have played with each other, whether Eluemunor was playing over there [at left guard] or if we need him to go over there [to right tackle], but certainly you'd like to have all of them out there."

Just as the Giants appeared to be getting their newly projected starting five on the field, Runyan suffered what is believed to be a minor shoulder injury.Runyan missed the final two practices before Saturday's preseason game against the Houston Texans(1 p.m. ET, NRG Stadium). That means the Giants will head into the final preseason game without their projected starting offensive line playing a single snap together.At the same time, Schmitz (shoulder) and right tackle Neal (ankle), the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft who currently appears to be the odd man out, returned to take team reps for the first time in weeks and this summer, respectively.

The Giants were 24th last season in pass block win rate (53.4%) and 31st in run block win rate (67.5%) according to ESPN Stats and Information.

"You could have Pat Mahomes, he can't f---ing win behind that," general manager Joe Schoen said in an episode of 'Hard Knocks', referring to the offensive line they had on the field during last season's Week 5 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

The past struggles of the Giants offensive line are not lost on the current group. They know about the trend they're trying to buck. Their reasons for optimism stem from the offseason additions, which include new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo. The team believes, given his track record (most recently in Las Vegas), he will have a major impact on this group.

"We're not just trying to be better than last year. We're trying to be one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and he has been with good offensive lines throughout his coaching career. He's been really successful everywhere and we can see it and he believes it and he's going to keep working us until we get to that point," Runyan told ESPN of Bricillo. "So that's what we want out of this offensive line."

Given the depth of the unit's problems over the years, it would seem like a longshot to make that significant a jump.

Don't tell that to Runyan.

"I think it's completely realistic [to be one of the best]," he said. "I think we have all the pieces that we need up front."

Maybe, but the wild card remains Neal. He was expected to start the summer with the first team at right tackle until it took longer than anticipated for him to return from the ankle surgery he had at the beginning of the year. That forced the team to move Eluemunor to right tackle after he spent the entire spring at left guard. They signed Van Roten to fill the guard spot a week later.

For now, Neal looks like the backup right tackle. The Giants aren't quite ready to try him at guard coming off the injury. Perhaps that will come at a later date. In the meantime, Neal seems to understand the position he's in after two rough seasons that saw inconsistent play and a variety of injuries.

"I'm not owed anything, and I can't feel like I deserve anything," he said earlier this week. "All I want is what I work for."

What Schoen has done is at least create enough depth where the Giants might not need anything from Neal. If they get anything from him at this point, it's a bonus. But they're not necessarily closing their eyes and crossing their fingers like they've done in years' past.

Schmitz and Neal spent this week rotating into the mix; Schmitz with the first team, Neal with the second. If Runyan returns as soon as expected, the Giants would have all their top linemen on the field together for the first time this year. (It would be helpful if it were before a joint practice next week with the New York Jets.)

Perhaps they will assemble just in time to develop that chemistry they so often preach about with the regular season just over three weeks away -- if luck would have it.