Giants bring center J.C. Hassenauer in for a visit

The New York Giants are in desperate need of some help along the interior of the offensive line with both Nick Gates and Jon Feliciano signing with other teams this offseason. They took a step to try to remedy that on Wednesday, bringing in J.C. Hassenauer for a visit. 

Hassenauer spent the past four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, appearing in 45 games with seven starts. While he played all of his 2022 snaps as the Steelers’ backup center, he played both center and left guard in 2021 and 2020. 

Undrafted out of Alabama in 2018, Hassenauer signed as an undrafted free agent with the Atlanta Falcons before being released and latching on with the Birmingham Iron in the now-defunct AAF, which was a spring football league. 

From there, he signed with Pittsburgh in 2019 and started seven games across the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He wound up beating out rookie Kendrick Green for the backup center job and worked behind starter Mason Cole for all of 2022. 

Hassenauer lacks ideal size and strength, but he is regarded as a smart and technically sound lineman. He has active hands and often beats the defender to the punch so that his lack of size isn’t exposed as a weakness. However, his value is in his versatility. Hassenauer is not likely being viewed as a starting option for the Giants but as a backup interior lineman that can fill in at guard and center if the team is in a pinch. 

In the NFL, those kinds of players have tremendous value on the depth chart. 

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