New Report Names This Giants Offensive Player as One to Watch This Summer

Jermaine Eluemunor will be key to the Giants' offensive line's success in 2024.

Dec 24, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Las Vegas Raiders guard Jermaine Eluemunor (72) prepares to block at the line of scrimmage against Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) during the first quarter at Acrisure Stadium. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants went into this offseason with a clear plan: upgrade the offensive line. This was one major step in their overall desire to improve the offense as a whole, which ranked almost last in every statistical category last season.

General manager Joe Schoen knew he needed to protect quarterback Daniel Jones, which is why he and the rest of the staff took a different approach this offseason. The team didn't draft an offensive lineman this year, leading many to wonder why. The month prior in free agency, the Giants loaded up on veteran linemen to both start and provide depth.

One of those players was former Patriots and Raiders lineman Jermaine Eluemunor. Eluemunor was mainly a backup option during his early years, but had the best years of his career playing under offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo in Las Vegas the last two seasons. Bricillo and Eluemunor are joining forces on their third NFL team, a big reason why the Giants elected to bring him in.

In his article naming one player to watch for each NFL team heading into training camp this year, PFF’s Bradley Locker's pick for the Giants was Eluemunor.

"The 29-year-old put together a solid past two seasons with the Raiders, particularly as a run-blocker. But the Giants will ask Eluemunor to do something he hasn’t done much of at the NFL level: play left guard, where he has only 11 career snaps. That transition, especially as a predominant right tackle, might not be the most straightforward."

"After the Giants finished dead last in pass-blocking grade last year, head coach Brian Daboll will be entrusting Eluemunor to step in, learn a new position and swiftly protect Jones much better than the team did in 2023."

Will Eluemunor start at left guard? Not so fast, as right tackle Evan Neal was placed on the PUP list to begin training camp. The Giants also brought in veteran guard Greg Van Roten for a visit, another player that performed well last season for the Raiders under Bricillo. Eluemunor was a solid right tackle last season and with these recent developments, could now slide over to that position with Neal not ready to practice.

Eluemunor practiced all spring among the starters at left guard, a position he's played sparingly in his career thus far. It would be better for the Giants to move Eluemunor back to right tackle soon to avoid jumbling the offensive line later down the line in camp. 

Right tackle has suited the veteran lineman well, especially last season. Eluemunor appeared in all 17 games for the Raiders in 2023 with 11 starts, surrendering just 28 pressures and six sacks.

It'll be interesting to see where Eluemunor lines up to begin training camp given the recent roster moves made. With Neal out for an unknown amount of time following ankle surgery, could the Giants sign Van Roten in order for Eluemunor to go back to right tackle? While this remains to be seen, Eluemunor is definitely an important player to watch over the course of the summer.

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