At least they’re not the worst anymore.
The New York Giants saw a sizable bump in the latest Pro Football Focus rankings of NFL offensive lines. The Giants saw their line make a nearly 15-position jump from a league-worst 30th in 2021 to 18th in the new rankings put out this week.
Improving the offensive line to give quarterback Daniel Jones more protection was a key part of New York general manager Joe Schoen’s offseason plan after taking over the job earlier this year. All but one starter — Andrew Thomas — was released and Schoen added depth to one of the team’s biggest areas of need.
The bump moved them into a category called “Tier 4: At Least One Good Tackle.”
“That one good tackle is former fourth overall pick Andrew Thomas, although Evan Neal is a promising rookie,” PFF’s Michael Renner wrote. “Thomas’ abysmal rookie season is still ingrained in a lot of minds, but many missed him become one of the best pass-protecting tackles in the league last year. He allowed only 18 pressures on 517 pass-blocking snaps after giving up 57 as a rookie.”
Thomas and Neal are projected to be the Giants starting tackles, with free-agent signing Jon Feliciano starting at center and Shane Lemieux and Mark Glowinski at the guard positions.
Part of the optimism stems from the approach that the Giants’ front office took this offseason. Schoen went after players that had a familiarity with new head coach Brian Daboll’s offensive system.
Feliciano and Jamil Douglas both played for Daboll during his time with the Buffalo Bills and Glowinski knows offensive line coach Bobby Johnson from their days with the Indianapolis Colts together.
The Giants went through mandatory mini-camp last week in East Rutherford and there was a noticeably different feel to camp.
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“You can just kind of tell people get a little scared when they mess up,” Jon Feliciano said last week. “No one likes messing up. But, like, it’s OK.
“Dabes wants you to take chances. If something happens, it’s all right. It’s not all right, but this is the time for it to happen.”
