Giants Running Out of Time to Solidify Starting Offensive Line

The New York Giants' projected starting offensive line has not taken any practice snaps together due to injuries. But new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo has taken solace in this aspect.

Offensive Line Coach Carmen Bricillo, of the NY Giants NFL team at an organized team activity at their training facility in East Rutherford, NJ on Thursday May 30, 2024. / Tariq Zehawi/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2024 New York Giants have been together in some sort of team capacity since April 15 and, more recently, for 22 days this summer.

And over that stretch of time, their projected starting offensive line of left tackle Andrew Thomas, left guard Jermaine Eluemunor, center John Michael Schmitz, right guard Jon Runyan, Jr., and right tackle Evan Neal have played exactly zero snaps together in any capacity due to injuries.

Injuries have been such a factor that Neal, who started training camp on PUP, has seemingly lost his starting job to Eluemunor, who moved to right tackle from Day 1. Runyan has shifted to left guard and newcomer Greg Van Roten was signed to play right guard.

But even that iteration of the offensive line, which is believed to be the one the coaches want to roll with for the start of the regular season, has yet to play a snap together in practice.

That can’t be very settling for head coach Brian Daboll and offensive line coach Caermen Bricillo. Bricillo told reporters in the spring that he hoped to have the starting five set by around midway through training camp, but again, thanks to injuries, that hasn’t happened. 

And for the Giants, who have struggled to field a healthy and solid offensive line seemingly every year, time is ticking away. 

“You love to have all the guys on the field, but the reality is they're not,” said head coach Brian Daboll on Tuesday.

“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.”

Daboll seems to have taken a glass-half-full approach to the offensive line’s constant shuffling. He pointed out that the various players are getting valuable reps, which can help their respective cases for a roster spot.

But as upbeat as Daboll would like people to think he is, experience has likely taught him better, especially after last season's debacle. Last year, the team was still shuffling guys around in a quest to find the right starting combination, and then the injury bug struck.

Bricillo said he’s been pleased with how his offensive linemen have come to work and noted that they have come prepared and have started to gel. 

“Still plenty of room to grow,” he said, adding, “That's why this week (against Houston) could be critical about as far as improvement–having an opportunity to actually get out there and go against somebody else other than your team. 

“So you can kind of start to pick apart some flaws and some things that we maybe need to hone in on technique-wise or communication-wise, things that might give us an issue. But overall, I like how they're working, and they're a joy to be around.” 

Still, if Bricillo had his druthers, his eight offensive linemen would be close to being solidified by now. But while the eyes of the organization have turned to how many training camp days remain on the calendar, Bricillo said there’s one thing he can take solace in knowing when it comes to the offensive line, and that is the prior working relationship Van Roten had with Eluemunor last year when both were with the Raiders.

“I would feel pretty comfortable in the fact that Greg having had a relationship with Jermaine can kind of help, and then just Greg being a veteran, and he can slide in there and figure it out,” Bricillo said. 

The Giants need their offensive line to be solidified and playing as one for Week 1 of the regular season; otherwise, all the additions they made on offense won’t mean anything. Despite the projected starting group consisting if veterans, at some point, it’s hoped that they get some practice snaps together before the curtain rises on the 2024 season.

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