The Giants and Eagles both have acknowledged that last fall's dramatic 27-24 Eagles win over their NFC East rivals in Week 3 in Philadelphia was the key turning point in both of their seasons. Jake Elliott's 61-yard field goal simultaneously catapulted Philly to a Super Bowl run and buried the Giants permanently in the NFL's basement.
But Elliott's field goal, and the preceding 19-yard completion to Alshon Jeffrey through a swiss-cheese secondary effort to set it up, never should have happened. The Eagles shouldn't even have had the ball.
And yet they did have the ball because of Giants left tackle Ereck Flowers, who had committed consecutive illegal shift and holding penalties matched up one-on-one with Eagles defensive end Vinny Curry. Flowers' 15 yards of penalties had single-handedly backed up Eli Manning's game-winning drive attempt from 2nd-and-3 to 2nd-and-18, giving the Eagles the ball back with enough time to end it on their terms, which they most certainly did.
So on Wednesday, the Eagles' trade with the Seahawks to acquire Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett was bad news for the Giants, no doubt about it. Philly sent a fifth-round pick and wide receiver Marcus Johnson and got back Bennett and a seventh-round pick.
While Philly may be trading Curry for cap reasons, with this trade they can attack the Giants next season on passing downs with Bennett, Fletcher Cox, Derek Barnett and Brandon Graham. Their rotation also includes Timmy Jernigan, who is a menace in the middle, and Chris Long, expected to re-sign after major depth contributions in 2017.
This is a critical reminder then, as the Giants prepare for the opening of the NFL's legal free agency tampering period next Monday and for the start of free agency on the opening of the new league year Wednesday, March 14:
The Giants' priority this offseason is, and must remain, their offensive line. Or, to put that another way, how many more wins could Saquon Barkley help Manning earn without a better group of "hog mollies" blocking for them?
With Manning at quarterback in 2018, the only way Pat Shurmur's team is going to win is if his offensive line consistently protects and punishes the opposition with a formidable run game to keep the pass rush off-balance.
That doesn't mean GM Dave Gettleman definitely will go to an O-lineman in the first round of April's draft. But it does mean that Giants fans should expect a ton of action on the general manager's part to revamp the group in front of his two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback. And everything is on the table.
To start, in free agency, a handful of NFL evaluators polled at last week's Combine were in full agreement that Gettleman would take a major run at signing Panthers first-team All-Pro guard Andrew Norwell, 26, whom Gettleman originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State as Carolina's GM in 2014.
Norwell could get even more than guard Kevin Zeitler's five-year, $60 million deal with the Cleveland Browns in free agency last offseason. That would beef up the interior but how could Gettleman proceed from there? The Giants held about $24 million in cap space for the 2018 season as of the NFLPA's Wednesday report, prior to their trade for Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree, who carries an $11.6 million hit for next year, per overthecap.com.
Presuming Gettleman intends to re-sign Odell Beckham Jr. and re-up Landon Collins not far down the road, it's not like the Giants have an empty vault to fix the line. So Patriots left tackle Nate Solder, the obvious top tackle on a thin free agent market on the blind side, would be a tough fit with Norwell signed, given the cash it would require.
This is why I think, call me crazy, that if the Giants don't go quarterback in the first round, someone might have to lock Gettleman in a closet to prevent him from drafting Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson at No. 2 or trading down to get him plus more picks in return.
Improving at left tackle is critical but so is upgrading across the line. Nelson not only played tackle his whole high school career and swung at tackle early at Notre Dame. But adding both him and Norwell to the interior to bookend expected starting center Brett Jones -- a restricted free agent -- would solidify a front that likely will lose Justin Pugh to mega-free agent deal elsewhere and could lose D.J. Fluker, too, to a team that plans to start him.
"I think I should be talked in the top five conversation because you have guys that are dominating the NFL right now in Aaron Donald and Geno Atkins, Fletcher Cox that have just been working on interior guys and you need guys to stop them," Nelson said Indianapolis. "And I think I'm one of those guys."
Gettleman already praised the Week 17 Giants starting offensive line that included Chad Wheeler, an undrafted rookie out of USC who got better every week. This draft is deeper on the interior, including UTEP's impressive guard Will Hernandez, but there are intriguing tackles, too, that could be on the board in the second round or later, such as Texas' Connor Williams, Notre Dame's Mike McGlinchey, UCLA's Colton Miller and Pitt's Brian O'Neill.
The Patriots can vouch: it only takes one mistake from the offensive line to ruin a game. New England right guard Shaq Mason played well in the Super Bowl, but Graham beat him for one strip sack of Tom Brady in the fourth quarter recovered by Barnett, and that led to an Eagles field goal to stretch the lead to the ultimate final score, 41-33.
The Giants have made major mistakes building their line in the recent past. It's time Gettleman fixes the front.
Bagikan Berita Ini
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