OT Jermaine Eluemunor Brings Old-school Toughness to Giants O-line

Offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor has brought an old-school type of toughness to the New York Giants offensive line.

Jul 25, 2024; East Rutherford, NY, USA; New York Giants offensive guard Jermaine Eluemunor (72) gives an interview after training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. / Lucas Boland-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor has brought an old-school toughness to the team’s offensive line. 

The Giants’ off-season signing from the Las Vegas Raiders, Eluemunor, is a classic example of putting mind over matter when it comes to playing a game whose physical demands can break the spirits of those who aren’t mentally tough enough to endure the soreness and challenges.

Want a reason to believe? On the first day of the Giants’ padded training camp practices, Eluemunor took a huge, bone-jarring hit from defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II. 

“I couldn’t really breathe for a little bit,” Eluemuor told New York Giants on SI, shuddering just a bit when recalling the collision.

Eluemunor left that practice early, and it was believed that he might miss at least a day if not more, to recover from the experience.

But after learning that nothing was broken and that the worst he had sustained was soreness, Eluemunor insisted on getting right back out on the practice field, where he did some of his normal day’s work. 

By the day after that, Eluemunor, having added a carbon fiber protective pad to his uniform to protect his torso, was back taking his full workload.   

Eluemunor’s toughness and dedication to the team have no doubt resonated with his teammates and coaches.

“Whatever pain I gotta go through to be out on that field, whatever I have to do to make sure my body's okay to be out there, I'm gonna do [it],” he said, adding, “You're gonna have to chop my leg off to keep me off that field.

Besides his toughness, Eluemuor, entering his eighth NFL season, brings experience to the table. Throughout his career, he has recorded 422 snaps at left tackle, 534 at right guard, and 1,861 at right tackle. 

After initially being signed to play left guard, he moved to right tackle at the start of camp when Evan Neal, the Giants’ first-round draft pick from 2022 projected to start at right tackle, experienced a setback in his recovery from season-ending ankle surgery that landed him on the PUP list to start camp.

Eluemunor attributed his mental toughness to his NFL journey, which took some time to get going in the right direction.

Drafted in the fifth round in 2017 out of Texas A&M by the Baltimore Ravens, the Denville, New Jersey native, who wasn’t recruited by any major college programs out of high school, had a strong NFL debut.

He started two of the eight games in which he appeared for the Ravens and earned a place on the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team. 

From 2018 through 2021, Eluemuor sort of became a bit of an afterthought as a starter. In his next 45 games played (one season with the Ravens, two with the Patriots, and the first of three with the Raiders), he made 12 starts.

When then-Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels hired Carmen Bricillo as the team’s offensive line coach in 2022, Eluemunor’s star began to rise.

Between 2022 and 2023, Eluemuor appeared in 34 games with 31 starts, splitting his reps between left tackle and right tackle. According to Pro Football Focus, Eluemunor achieved the best season grades of his career in those two years under Bricillo’s guidance. 

The opportunity to be a consistent starter whet Eluemunor’s appetite, and now that he has the opportunity to continue that with the Giants, it’s going to take a lot for him to give it up.

“When you're finally out there and you get a taste of what it feels like to be a legit starter in the NFL, it's an addictive thing,” he said. 

“And I don't want to give it up. I don't want any doubt in these coaches or upstairs people's heads. I want 'em to know I'm here to play ball and help this team win.”

His determination may be exactly what New York needs this fall. Last season, the Giants offensive line allowed quarterback Daniel Jones to be sacked 30 times before his ACL injury ended his season.

By year’s end, the offensive line’s numerous combinations had been charged with allowing 85 sacks against the three quarterbacks (Jones, Tyrod Taylor, and Tommy DeVito), the second most sacks allowed by an offensive line since sacks became a tracked stat by the league. 

Early indications are that the Giants’ 2024 offensive line–left tackle Andrew Thomas, left guard Jon Runyan, Jr., center John Michael Schmitz, right guard Greg Van Roten, and Eluemunor at right tackle—is a much-improved unit. 

As for the 6-4, 330-pound Eluemunor, he’s been itching to don the Giants uniform and hit someone wearing a different colored jersey from Day 1.

“I want to show not only the coaches and my teammates but [also] myself that I'm the same guy that I used to be,” he said of his upcoming season goals. 

That kind of attitude and toughness is exactly what the Giants need if they’re to finally get their offense on track.

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