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Giants Stripped Down - Offensive Line Preview #football #sports #nfl
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Jul 13, 2025
John and Eric are back after a short break with all the news and notes from Giants land including: Mini Camp Catch Up All Players Signed Wilson Brings Players Out To San Diego For Workouts Darren Waller (WHO?) Traded To Miami From there John and Eric Preview the Offensive Line battles as we head into camp. Who are the starting five right now and who will make up the 8-9 or even 10 man unit as we head into the season. What are the chances Andrew Thomas misses time to start the season? What about Evan Neal? How about Jake Kubas, Aaron Stinne and Josh Ezeudu? Any surprises here? Please like subscribe and comment!
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Heat. Heat.
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All right. Well, welcome back and it has been a while to another edition of Inside BBI with John and Eric. I'm John
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McDev and with me as always, senior editor of Big Blue Interactive, Mr. Eric Kennedy. Eric, we have had a lot, and I
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don't mean giant stuff. You and I have had a lot of stuff going on. It's been a little while. Welcome back, my friend.
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Yeah, it's been a while. I three week breaks. We didn't mean it to be this long, but but life intervened for both
1:06
of us. So, we're hopefully we won't have another long break like this. Yeah, indeed. And and luckily, not a lot
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has been going on since we did the Carl Banks video. For those of you who haven't seen it, check it out. Most of
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you have. We It's well over 3,000 views. I really appreciate that. Great interview, a lot of fun. But there's
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been some stuff, some interesting things going on. Eric, first off, I'm glad you're on the mend. uh you've had you
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had your surgery, you're on the men now. You and I both in this calendar year have had surgeries. Let's uh let's not
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go on the DL uh or the IR uh this this fall. Uh get all our stuff out of the
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way. But a lot of stuff's been going on. Let's start with uh something kind of out of nowhere. So, we're going to
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backtrack. We were just talking about it now. I want to go there first. The Giants made a trade. Giants trade Darren
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They traded Darren Waller to the Miami Dolphins. I I had this funny reaction. So, I had
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my surgery right around when a lot of this stuff was going on. Rotator cuff surgery if anyone's curious. Um, I'm
2:06
sure supposed to be wearing my sling, but I'm not. Um, and and so this thing
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came up on my YouTube feed about Darren Waller trade and the Giants, and I
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looked at the date and it said like three days ago or whatever. And I said, "Well, that's weird that whoever's
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running this channel is a little is it a couple of years too late? What the hell is this?" So, I didn't even think anything about it. And then when I kind
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of got back again from focusing focusing on the site after this, I went on BBI
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after a couple days and people are talking about the Darren Waller trade. I'm like, what is everyone talking
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about? What do you mean Darren Waller trade? And then I was like, oh, this is great. So, look, the original trade suck
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for the Giants. There's no there's no defending it. Um, we all thought at the
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time it might be worth worth the risks. At least some of us did, some of us didn't. Sure. Um, he lit it up in training camp and it
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was awesome and he, you know, they managed it so he didn't pull his hamstring and right before the season
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starts, he pulls his hamstring. We, of course, we at the time we didn't know he's already
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thinking about retirement again. I came out later and all that stuff, but then he I don't know if people remember the
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details, but he hurt his hamstring and then he came back and then he hurt the other hamstring.
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And even despite all that, he was still like the second leading receiver on the team, which shows you how bad our offense was. Um, but then when he
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retired at the end of the year, it was like, oh my god, what a horrible trade. But so to get anything for him at this
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point was just great. And people say, big deal. It's a sixthrounder. The Giants only had six round picks going
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into next year because of the Jackson Dart trade. They they lost their third. So getting back up to seven picks, even
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if it's a later pick, to me is is huge. So, I think I mean I think that's great.
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And then, of course, we have to see if the conditional seventh rounder in the following year is part of the trade. I
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someone asked me on Twitter if what what are the conditions. We don't know. My assumption is and it's just an
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assumption he would probably have to make the Dolphins for the Giants not to pay that. It's
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probably I'm assuming that the Dolphins are saying, you know, if he doesn't make our team or he retires again, we got to
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get something back from you guys. So that's I that's my assumption of what what the what the conditional pick is,
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but we don't know what the condition is. Yeah, I I would think you're probably spot on about that. It's it's you know,
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you're you're giving something up for an expectation. If that expectation is the guy and he ends up not doing anything, I
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kind of want something back, you know, for what we're doing here. Right. What bugs me about this entirely though,
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forget the trade that the Giants did to get him. Right. Right. It's all the around him after
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that season and now hearing him talk. Now, first off, he talked like he did he was done with football. He talked like
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he was done with football. He was music, all this other crap. He was going through a divorce, too, I think. Right. Yeah.
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Yeah. And then it comes out though that he was contemplating retirement in the
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middle of the Bills game of which the Giants could have won where he actually was interfered with late in late in the
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game. Giants probably could have had first and goal from there, but he's already checking out. He's mentally
5:19
checking out at that point. So, why the hell did you hold the Giants hostage in the off season when you could have
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retired at any moment knowing you were going to retire, freeing the Giants up, letting them move on. There's cap
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implications because of that. Instead, he just dragged it out. If you remember, he dragged it out, dragged it out,
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dragged it out as we got closer to the draft before it became known that he was going to retire. Yeah, I forgot about
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that. Yeah, that really pissed me. I'm trying to put that whole Darren Waller thing in the building here,
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but that's how all that and then he's talking basically about how he knew he was going to retire during the Bills
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game. What the hell was all that other stuff after the season? Anyway, we he's a strange character. He's this odd
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odd. He is he is odd. And he did he he has come from he I believe I don't know if
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it was drugs or alcohol, but he had a problem earlier. He did overcome that painkillers. I think it was pain.
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There's something alone. He's definitely So, he's got some some oddness in his background about how he deals with
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stuff. But when I saw the trade, too, I'm like I'm like, "What the hell? The Giants traded Darren Waller. How he's
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not even on the team." But they still held his rights. That's the good thing about retiring. You can't just retire and then go sign with somebody else. Tom
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Brady, you know, Patriots had to trade him to Tampa for that all to happen. So, it's it's one of those things that it
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worked out for us. You're right. Another pick is another pick. uh when you start to become a good team, we don't know yet
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if the Giants are, but we want to believe that they're going to start becoming a good team. Their talent is
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getting better. The drafts are bringing in some good players. Once that starts happening, getting more draft picks
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allows you to get those guys that become the bottom of the roster versus signing
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veterans at a higher price to be the bottom of the roster. You want younger talent. You want guys The Giants did it
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in the 80s pretty well. They did it in the 2000s pretty well. Now we we hopefully this is where we start.
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Well, it's just more it's more swings at the back at the plate, too. So,
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again, people will say, "Well, we haven't gotten lucky with with late picks in
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years." Well, you still can. You just have to get a lot of picks. You can get a Jesse Armstead, a Ahmad Bradshaw at
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some point. And so, it may it's not just the bottom of the roster. You might get hit a home run. There was this thread
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that sort of annoyed me this week about what's this hype with Thomas Fidoni, right? And I'm not really sure what the
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hype is other than people say, "Hey, he's looked pretty decent in the practices." I don't
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if that's hype, I guess, you know, but he's pretty decent in the practices. But say Fedoni ends up being a
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number two tight end or number three tight end for a seventh rounder. That's great. So, right.
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So, so that's what I'm talking about. So, so these six, seventh round, I just hope that Shane and he's shown a
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willingness to do both. Trade away late picks to get like the Boogie Basham what
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didn't work out and um Isaiah Simmons. Um but he's also shown a willingness to
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trade away um players that were that we didn't have any um interest in keeping.
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The the defensive lineman that they sent to Dallas, I can't even think of his name that we got to pick. We got to pick for Phillips. I think it was Phil. Was it
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Philip? I can't even remember his name but but but there have been others too. So I think I hope so as this roster gets
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deeper and I think it is I I hope in before the the trade deadline there are players on
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this team we get a six or a seventh round or four and and so the more of
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these swings you have at the plate you're more likely you're going to and that's where Philadelphia has really
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cleaned up. They get all these comp picks. They get all these and they almost have too many picks. That's what and they end up trading away some of
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these picks because they almost have because there's only so many rookies you can put on a roster, especially if you have a deep team like like the Eagles.
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So, but they get all these picks and then they may not do really well in some
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of their drafting, but they but they have so many of them that that I mean, people look back at that Dallas Cowboy
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trade with Hershel Walker. They hit a lot of bad picks from that trade, but they had so many of them that the ones
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that they hit were were awesome. But people forget they they used a first round draft pick on a quarterback that
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didn't that didn't work out, you know, they they they had it wasn't just Aman. I can't think was it Steve Walsh.
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Yeah. I mean, so but if you look at their whole draft during that period there, those weren't all great picks. Um
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even though that that Dallas team was loaded, it's just because they had so many picks. So
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well and the other thing too it's you know when you start trying to do the trade values right I need X it's not
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followed as closely as it used to be but the Jimmy Johnson you know trade value chart that they came up with
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there's still a cost to move up so if I have one pick and I might have to throw some others if you have a fifth a sixth
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a seventh you can throw a couple more in there and that gives you the total number to move up that they need we have
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more but when you start having less when I don't have a sixth I not have a seventh. Now you you're you're gambling
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with not only the picks this year, now you're having to give up picks next year to just try to do maneuvering. This
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gives you some some, you know, ability to move around, but it also gives you, like you said, Howard Cross was a six
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round draft pick. So, you know, there's there's guys that and and Fedoni, I don't know why people are getting mad about this.
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Think of it this way. What's happening right now? Are there any real practices happening? No. No. Are there any games
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happening right now? No. So, what are you going to talk about? You're going to talk about the guys that are coming in
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that have an opportunity and what they're showing and what they look like. And it's it's natural. I mean, it's no
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different than if we start going, you know, let's talk about how Bellinger's looking great. Well, there's no games going on. How do you know he looks
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great? He hasn't looked great in years. So, they're they're talking about a guy who has physical talent. Why did he go
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down lower in the draft? He has an injury history. That's usually drops guys down, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have talent. And
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I think he has a legit shot at making this team as the third tight end. Yeah. So, you're basically saying asking
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the question, why are people talking about football on the football website? That was my point. You want another Yankees and Mets Mets um thread? Great.
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But no, look, it it this is the time of the year to be excited about things. There might be the next Victor Cruz or
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it might be somebody like the next Keith Elias. You know, we don't know what's going to be Sean Bennett
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or Sean Bennett. I mean, so, so again, if you don't, if that stuff bothers you, ignore it. But I I I like it. So, like
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one of the things that people were talking about this week, I got the picture here, is the gang got together
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in San Diego to work out this week um with um Russell Wilson. So before
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everybody says there's a bit there was a lot of posts on the on Big Blue Interactive BBI as you like to say when
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to plug it um about oh this is great um this is great the Giants haven't done
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this they're building this this um camaraderie now Daniel Jones did this at Duke so let's
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not overinflate the importance of this kind of thing but it is cool it is cool that a couple weeks before they meet up
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these guys are at least least interested enough to work on their craft to get
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better. And so I think it's cool. I don't think people should make too much out of it, but I think the OTAAS are
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more important. But it is neat to see that Russell Wilson has kind of taken charge of of the of the team already and
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gotten a really pretty darn good turnout of people. If you look at the list of people that were there, and this isn't
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all of them, he got he got um a lot of people. And by the way, when when I take
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my shirt off, I look just like a man hurts there on the left. That's I just don't I was trying to figure out who's who. Um
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if I can make a suggestion for photos in the future, if you could not grab your crotch when the photos being taken, that
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was super. Oh, are you talking about Jaylen Hyatt in the white? Come on. Come on. Jesus.
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Not necessary. You know what I'm saying? Like these shorts effectively cover my thunder. There's an Arrested Development
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an Arrested Development reference. Nice. Well done. Anyways, I I thought this was cool and
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there is video on Instagram about with this with um Derry Slayton make a sick catch from Russell uh Russell Wilson by
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the way. Um it's just cool that for them to work on that and as long as no one gets hurt and um but it starts that
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whole thing and you and I talked about this a little bit offline and we I don't know if you want to bring it up here but
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people start obsessed well who's there and who's not there and if somebody's not there that's a they don't really
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care. So you you you had mentioned scattered but why why not there? So again it's vacation time for most of
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these guys that they they made arrangements. So, and again, so the the
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the bigger question to me is what you you raised too is Scataboo didn't seem to practice in the spring that much. Um,
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we don't know if it was an injury, but he he didn't he signed very late. He was the last draft pick to sign. I think it
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was I think it was right during mini camp around the 18th that he signed. So,
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I wondered is this related that no one reported this, so this is just speculation. is just related to the
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contract and he didn't want to practice until the contract was signed. There is, you know, that's going on in um
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Cincinnati right now with their first round draft pick. So, I don't know. And Darius Alexander was signed, but he
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wasn't practicing. So, clearly there was an injury there, but I don't think it was serious because he was on the
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sidelines. And then I saw since then he was at some football camp working on defensive line technique with um Dexter
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Lawrence was there too with with one of these DL gurus. So So it's just again
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calm down people about those kinds of things. Who's there, who's not there, that type of thing. People are on
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vacation, they have families, that type of thing. So um it's not a mandatory. Right. Right. Right. And it's and as you
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said, you're accurately pointed out, Daniel Jones plenty of times. Um, which
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the only thing I think that created was a sense of we like Daniel Jones, but I I
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do like that Russell Wilson is doing this because a you do need to you you got to come in and establish yourself as
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a leader. If you're going to be the quarterback for now, you got to establish yourself as a leader and you got to bring guys together and they got
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to believe in you because you do have a guy waiting in the wings that the coach
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has already made has professed his love for. So there is some pieces to this.
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What we'll see is how does it translate to the field? Why I think this is more
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important probably than what we saw with Daniel Jones in the past is Daniel Jones was already the quarterback of the team. Daniel Jones already knew the playbook.
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Daniel Jones already knew most of the guys that were on the team that he brought with him. Russell Wilson does
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not know the playbook. Most of these guys that he's working with don't know Russell Wilson. They don't have that. So
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the more that they can practice together before we get to camp hopefully cuts down the amount of time that they get to
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where they have to develop that that rhythm, that relationship with you. Exactly. Exactly. So that's why this is
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that's why it's good. Nothing bad can come out of this other than somebody getting hurt. This is all good. So, so
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it but that's not overrated, but it it's more along the lines of what you just said. It's developing the relationships
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and cohesion and the chemistry I've seen. And we should spend most of this time when we do our quarterback preview.
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We have not done quarterbacks yet. We have not done it yet. That that'll be this week, I think. So, we'll discuss
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more of this, but but the quarterback issue on the Giants is the most commonly
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discussed thing that I'm seeing by YouTube podcasters and the fan base still and media types is when do the
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Giants make the transition? It doesn't even happen this year. You and I will talk about that in detail. But one of
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the things that has changed my opinion on all of this is I did not expect Russell Wilson to come in here and basic
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basically take charge of the ship and he's taken charge of the ship. It's clearly he's come in and he
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and you could try to do that too and it doesn't work but it it looks like it's worked. It looks like everybody is
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really impressed with his personality, his leadership and what he's done on the field. And I think
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that's changed the dynamic a little bit. I think it's also changed maybe my expectation level for what kind of
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season the Giants might have. So, I've seen a lot of people on YouTube and a
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lot of smart commentators in on YouTube and in the media still convinced that
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it's going to be Dart sooner than later. And I was in that boat early on. I'm not
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there now. Now I'm thinking where you were in that and this is before all this
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stuff happened. So, your instincts were right that that Wilson may be the
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quarterback of this team until the Giants are really out of the playoff picture mathematically
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because I think he's sort of I think there's a risk that the Giants could lose Dable could lose the team in
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a way if they move off of Wilson too quickly because the players are looking
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at Wilson right now as as the guy. It's like something that you brought up last year and I think you hit the nail on the
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head on this too. You you think the way that they handled the quarterback situation last year sent a really bad
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message to the team. They were confused and that and and we we heard whispers of
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that after that had happened. You know, the whole thing when they benched Dan Daniel Jones is our guy, but he's not
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our guy. I mean, he he's our guy. He's our guy. Then then they bench him, then they cut him, and then they go to the
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third quarterback, not the second quarterback. And then they then they that went back and forth a little bit.
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And I think that confused the team. I think they can confuse the team if it's Wilson, Wilson, Wilson, Wilson. And and
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at the drop of a hat, they go dart. And I know there are people out there that are going to be pissed off about that because they want they they correctly
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understand that the sooner darts the guy long-term, the better. But I also think that there is a risk here that you don't
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want to lose the team at the same that that's where I am right now. I think you you have to and and I don't
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I don't want to take away from what we're going to do, right? But you have to have a sense of all of
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this. The interesting part to me isn't the Wilson part right now and it's not
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the dart piece. It's actually the Jameus Winston part which I thought it would be
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Wilson Winston kind of not battling each other but sort of being and Dart kind of following along, right?
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So much was made of Dart at camp at the at the OTAAS and and the mini camp
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that I see Jameus Winston really is he's just pure insurance at this point. Yeah,
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the Giants are probably hoping somebody gets hurt for another team that they can deal him cuz you could still have Tommy
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DeVito be the third quarterback cuz once you get the three, your season's over anyway. It it really does. You're not
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Kurt Warner is not coming out of nowhere with this team like he did with the Rams with Trent Green.
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This is it. It'll be Wilson. I almost got a feeling Dart. It's really Dart's job to win the backup, but but you don't
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and again I'm not going to take too much of what we're going to talk about later. You don't want to play him too soon cuz it's it's a twofold thing like you said,
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right? There's the part where the team's going to be like, "Holy you yanked Wilson after all the work he's put in
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really fast." That's one. But what if you put Dart in and he struggles immediately
20:52
right now? You've totally screwed. It was different with Warner to Manning. Warner to Manning is it was all along it was
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Manning's job. Manning was the number one pick in the draft traded to the Giants who ran number four. He was going
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to be the guy. It was just a matter of when they were going to do it. Dart is a
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guy that you drafted in, but it's not a consensus. He's just automatically going to be somebody's quarterback. He's
21:17
essentially the future, but they're not saying shove them in right now. I think they really want to mimic Kansas City,
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Alex Smith, Patrick Mahomes situation. They don't want to force and don't forget Josh Allen didn't start
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immediately either. So, they want to kind of just ease that piece in because you don't want to overwhelm because once
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you do it, you cannot turn back. I don't think they can. Yeah, I agree with you and you've said that repeatedly
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and I think you're right. I don't think you can once you bring him in, you you bench him again because then that looked bad. So, the Kaufman thing in the 2004
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is when we'll talk about this in greater detail later, but that's interesting. But Coughlin was a was a first year
21:57
coach with the Giants. Dable is coaching for his life. It's different. And you know, the transition
22:05
to Eli that year turned a five and4 team in the middle of a playoff picture into
22:10
a six and 10 team that was awful to watch down the stretch. And
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there were really bad games. We've talked about it before, like the Ravens game. Um there were really bad games for
22:21
Eli and it helped probably helped him long term. I, you know, we'll never know if it would have been better for him to
22:27
sit, but the following year he it it did help. 2005, they they won the division.
22:32
People, I don't know if they remember that, but the Giants actually looked pretty good that year. They had a bad playoff game, but they had a good year.
22:38
Um, so it's different because the where the coaching is. So Winston's Winston's
22:45
and my last comment on this because we should get to the offensive line. Winston's Winston's purpose on this team
22:50
to me now it still has some value in that like you said he's insurance in
22:55
case you don't really want to go to dart yet and Wilson gets hurt. I don't think Wilson's going to play so badly they're
23:03
going to bench Wilson and go to Winston. But I think Winston is there if Wilson gets injured and you don't want to go to
23:10
dart yet. The only way I trade Winston is if I get a significant pick
23:17
for him. And to me, significant is like a fourth or a third rounder at this point. But if someone's offering like a
23:24
fifth or a sixth, I'm probably not doing that right now. Unless you're looking at Devito and Camp and Devito with the li
23:31
very limited reps he's getting is just lighting it up. I I I'm not I'm I don't think I'm getting rid of it. But that
23:38
said, like you said, if some quarterback gets hurt and somebody's desperate and they come to the Giants and say, "We'll
23:43
give you a third round pick for him." I'm listening at that point. Oh, absolutely. So,
23:48
but we'll get we'll get to that more in the quarterback. There is one other quarterback thing I want to touch on.
23:54
It is old news at this point. We didn't get to talk about it. I wanted to before and I totally forgot to bring it up.
24:00
What did you think ultimately of Aaron Rogers comments about the fact that the
24:06
only team in play for him the entire off seasonason if he was going to play was Pittsburgh. It was not the Giants that
24:13
that he had no interest in playing for anybody else. It was either he was going to sign with Pittsburgh or he was going to retire.
24:18
I didn't hear it because I've tuned him out. I tuned him out about around the time when we right before we
24:26
signed both the quarterbacks cuz I was getting fed up with him. it I didn't hear that. It doesn't surprise me at all that he came out and said that. Um
24:33
clearly I don't think there was that much interest in there. I think the Giants um I I don't know why the Giants
24:40
thought they had a shot at him. Maybe unless he was playing them, but thank God they moved on from him. I I just
24:47
again he may light it up in Pittsburgh. I don't know. But it wasn't worth the drama. It just part of this is you got
24:52
to root for the people that that you that you got to like the people that you're rooting for. you don't, you know,
24:58
and Aaron Rogers is just, and I'm not even talking about the off the- field stuff that people always talk about. I'm just talking about just the
25:04
way he handled himself during this whole thing. Um, I'm actually very, and this is a topic for if we ever want have a
25:11
thing for like other teams in the league. Sure. Um, it's very been a very odd Pittsburgh
25:17
Steeler off season doing a lot of un things that Pittsburgh doesn't normally
25:22
do. So the trades and the the the Aaron Rodgers thing, it's just been a very
25:28
it's a very conservative franchise that doesn't generally do stuff like they're doing this off seasonason. I think that
25:34
it's fascinating what they've been doing and I I wouldn't have waited on him. We'll see how it works out for them. But
25:40
it doesn't surprise Does it Does it surprise you that he said that? It doesn't said it, but it doesn't surprise me.
25:45
It doesn't surprise me. Although it's it's it what surprises me is that
25:51
you you you come out and make statements like that which does draw negative attention to yourself
25:57
because there was the thought that your your representatives were dragging other teams along deciding whether you were
26:04
going to play or you know retire or play retire or play and the Giants were in it. The Vikings are supposedly in it you
26:10
know and to hear that after the fact. Now, the last thing, and I think we will do like
26:16
a kind of an overlook of the league, probably more NFC East specific, but right, I'll say this. I'm with you 100%. This
26:22
is the only time that I can ever think in the last probably actually, quite
26:28
frankly, in the in the era of free agency that the Pittsburgh seems to be going all in on trying to win this year.
26:37
Yes. Which makes me think that maybe there's some other things at play behind the scenes. Maybe Mike Tomlin is not there
26:43
for the long term. That's the obvious conclusion. Yeah. This is going to, you know, like he might want to step away from this. This
26:49
is our run to think because to go get a DK Mechaf before you even knew who your quarterback was going to be to now look
26:56
at bringing in some other veterans. Some things that they're looking to do uh to make the trade that they just made which
27:02
um to getting Jaylen Ramsey to there to get send make Mink Fitzpatrick back to
27:08
Miami. By the way, I know. I don't know. That was another one that happened around the time of my surgery and my
27:14
physical therapist who's a Steeler fan said, "Did you see the trade?" And I said, "What trade?" And he mentioned I
27:19
like what the hell's that? I said he went back to my I thought I mean think about think about
27:26
Pittsburgh as an organization. And then think of the three guys that they brought in. Rogers, DK Mechaf, and
27:33
Jaylen Ramsay. Three guys that have massive egos, lot of me me personality
27:39
type stuff, especially Ramsay and Metaf. They both have that, you know, it's all about them kind of deals. This is a this
27:47
is a recipe for a Super Bowl run or an implosion like we have not seen in a
27:52
long time. Problem is the same problem the Giants have. The it's the division. They're in a division that's a You know,
27:58
that's a tough division to be in. Um, people will say the Bengals defense is a problem and they're correct, but that
28:04
the Bengals can I mean you got Joe Burl, you're going to and then that the Baltimore Ravens, I mean that's
28:11
Oh yeah, that's that's a really good team. That's a Super Bowl caliber team. And then who knows what you'll get with Cleveland,
28:17
but but that's that's a tough division. So um anyway, we should we should get on
28:22
the offensive line. We could do a show on what's going around the league. We'll look around the league. So, just
28:27
to cover real quick, we're going to be breaking down the quarterbacks real soon. Uh, we'll do defensive line in the future. Today, we're going to do the
28:33
offensive line. Uh, look around the league and then we're going to we'll probably let people know this coming
28:38
week kind of what our thoughts are, how we're going to handle through camp because we're not at camp. I can say though, I will be in the uh left corner
28:47
end zone on the Giants side opening day in Washington, three rows back from the
28:53
field. I bought tickets. We're going to that. It's been a lot of stuff and my wife and I need to have some fun. So, we're we're going to that. And uh I
29:00
think maybe we'll do a a live broadcast from from DC somehow. I'll manage to figure out how to do it. But uh anyway,
29:07
so lots of stuff going on here. Exactly. And I'm thinking about going to New Orleans in October, too. So, we'll
29:12
we'll talk about that later. So, let's break into the offensive line. There's lots to talk about.
29:18
Yeah. And this is from my depth chart. This is me trying to guess what they're
29:24
doing based on what we saw in OTAAS. But people have been moving all over the place. So take this with a grain of salt
29:30
and also realize that people are mo some a lot of these players or some of these players did not practice during the
29:36
spring like Renan who's still recovering like Andrew Thomas who's still recovering from injury. Um Van Roen was
29:44
actually sitting on the sideline quite a bit. I don't know if that was injury related or just because he's an older guy. Um but people, so this is just to
29:52
give us um a reminder of who's on the team and you a reminder who's on the
29:57
team and where they may be. But and we'll get into this where people are shifting, but this just gives you an
30:02
idea of numbers and kind of where I think they're they're they're pegged
30:08
right now if that helps. I um speaking of numbers, real quick, I I hate Hudson having 55. I don't that's
30:15
a weird number. It's a weird number. He's not the center. It's kind of weird. you know. Anyway, just just maybe that'll change
30:21
when they cut some people and and they move on, but that's a weird number. Um, look, first things first, let's start
30:27
with where all the angst and I love having this up on the screen. It's very helpful. Let's start with all the angst.
30:33
You you and I were talking about it. I I had a little bit of a different take. Not a completely different take, but a
30:38
little bit of a different take. But let's start with with your thoughts. uh Andrew Thomas still a little bit
30:43
injured. And then there was some sound bites that might have been taken out of context or at least out of the entirety
30:50
of what was said about him possibly not being ready for week one.
30:56
Yeah. Th this all started because John Schmelk and he's done this for years and
31:01
they're really interesting. If people Well, I think they're interesting. I don't know if you guys will think they're interesting, but he sits down
31:07
with the different players at each position group individually, but like
31:13
he'll spend one day on the defensive line, one day on the offensive line, one day on the quarterbacks and so forth while they're doing I think they're
31:19
doing their team photo things because they're in the background and they're yelling and they're having fun. So I think it's like they they're uniforms
31:25
and pads on. So I think it's a it's it's a PR day where they're it's almost like a yearbook day, you know, when people in
31:30
back in high school you yearbook pictures taken. So, I think that's what's going on. And he interviews these
31:36
and they spread them out like you and you and I are doing these position uh reviews or previews during the dead
31:43
period. So, they drop these during the dead period when everyone's on vacation. They and they did one on the offensive
31:48
line which is really good. I recommend it because he talks to a ton of the guys that are on the screen right now. Even
31:54
the Hudson's Stinny is on there. I Kubis I it's the first time I've ever heard Kubis speak. I I thought so. It's really
32:02
interesting to listen to just to get a feel for their personality, but also hear what they have to say. And Andrew
32:08
Thomas came on, that guy's a that guy's a man. He still is. He's just a big physical. You can see when he comes on
32:15
the screen, he just takes up the whole screen and he sat down with John Schm. And John said, you know, where how are
32:22
you doing? You know, where are you at your rehab? And he said, it's coming along. I'm doing good. Um and John said
32:29
something to the effect of like you'll be ready for start a camp and um Andrew
32:35
was non-committal. He just said, you know, I'm listening to the trainers. And that's that's the other thing a lot of
32:42
these guys are are told that's their not to discuss injuries and that's the kind
32:47
of thing that so you usually hear things like this like I'm listening to the trainers or you hear hear them being
32:53
like, oh yeah, I'll be fine. One or the other. And that that's kind of what this was. It was sort of a offthe cuff, you
32:58
know, you know, I'm just listening to the trainers. And then so John was like, well, you'll be ready for the start of
33:04
the season. And he said, well, again, he said, you know, I I will be ready when I'm ready. We'll see. We'll see. And I'm
33:10
paraphrasing, but that's kind of what he said. Well, somebody took that on X and said
33:16
Andrew Thomas isn't sure if he's going to be ready for the start of the season. And it's like, oh, Jesus Christ. So,
33:22
again, again, it's a Liz Frank injury. And back in the day, not too long ago, those were careerthreatening injuries.
33:30
The Theo Johnson's already back, which to me is stunning. But Andrew is a bigger bigger dude. He's a 310 pound
33:36
dude with a foot injury and they're taking their time with it. Could it
33:41
theoretically could this be a problem? Yes. But no one see there's been no indication that there's a problem here.
33:47
Matter of fact, earlier in the week, the defensive coaches spoke to the media and
33:54
the offensive coaches spoke to the media and they asked Carmen Brascillo, the offensive line coach. I was surprised
34:00
they asked him the question because they usually they know the coaches aren't going to answer this question. He said, "Do you have any concerns about Andrew Thomas being ready for camp, not the
34:06
season, camp?" And he was like, "Oh, no." But he he goes, "I have no concerns, but that's a question better suited for um Brian Dable." But that was
34:17
that was the coach of Andrew Thomas basically saying he didn't. To me that was more revealing than anything that
34:23
Andrew Thomas said. So long story short, would we have liked to have said Andrew
34:28
Thomas say, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to be ready for camp." Yeah, we would like to hurt. But I think people are making way too much of that comment and
34:34
looking I think people are become addicted to bad news. I think they're looking for bad news sometimes. And I think this is one of those areas. It's
34:41
like relax people. I think it's I think it's important to note that it is a big
34:47
deal in terms of he does need to be ready. Um and that his injury history
34:54
says he might not make it through the season. He hasn't played a full season in a couple of years. Um so that's
35:01
that's a little concerning. You know, I my whole thought on this is I'm not
35:06
going to worry about it yet, but if he doesn't, that's a bit of a problem
35:12
because now who's who do you want as your your your left tackle? And the way we see things right now,
35:18
right, let's let's start there. Just for giggles purposes, if he's not ready or
35:23
he were to be reinjured at some point, when you look at this, who immediately
35:28
do you think is is the left tackle? Is it Hudson? It better be Hudson because they're paying him $12 million over two
35:35
years, which is a lot of money for a backup. To me, the most interesting comment that Bracilo made during his
35:41
interview was he was very positive about Hudson. He he
35:49
was asked about Hudson. And again, I wish the reporters used to be like they they used to be. The
35:55
reporters would go to these interviews and they would a ask about a bunch of the players. So when they were talking
36:00
to the defensive coaches, it was nothing but Abdul Carter, which I want to hear about, too. But I'd like to hear about
36:07
other players on the roster. Right. Right. Right. Right. Somebody thankfully when they were talking to Bracilo, it was mostly Neil
36:15
as you can expect. The one question about Thomas with the injuries, but was mostly Neil. And then somebody threw in
36:20
at some point thankfully what we haven't talked to you since the since they signed Hudson. What do you
36:27
think of Hudson? and he was really positive. He said he's been great. Um he
36:33
was way more positive than I thought he was going to be cuz Hudson is a guy that when we signed him people were like
36:40
that's weird. He was a backup in Cleveland and he was sort of up and down and you know we need a backup tackle
36:47
backup swing tackle but is he is he worth the money and is he really the kind of guy that you want to go with?
36:52
the money suggests the Giants are high on him. And then Carmen's
36:57
answer on him really stood out to me. And I wish I had the quote right in front of me. Maybe when you're talking I I'll try to find the quote. But I I I
37:04
was very surprised by that. So it better be Hudson. The only other guy that they've been working over there is uh
37:11
Marcus Bo's been mainly working at right tackle, but there were some he was working at left tackle
37:17
um as well later in the OTAAS. And we didn't see all the OTAAS. Remember the
37:23
three of the OTAAS were open to the media and the other six they didn't do the last day. There was like a bowling
37:29
event or something like that. But the other six were were um closed to the media. So we don't really know what they
37:36
said. So for instance, again, I don't want to get ahead of myself when the media was there, they only saw Neil
37:42
working at left guard, but Carmen Bracil said Neil has also been working at right
37:48
guard. Well, the media hasn't seen that, but ne but Carmen Burcilo said he's been working at both spots. So, that was a
37:54
big that was a big drop to me, too. So, so they are trying him on both sides,
38:00
too. Was Hudson on the field? Was he on the line when we played them last year?
38:07
Yes. And if you notice, I I've noticed this over the years. Um, we tend to sign
38:12
guys that we play against. I don't know if that's coincidental, but we s over
38:18
the years in free agency. Um, and Hudson was in just another one of those. Hudson was on the and he actually talked about
38:24
that when when when he was interviewed by John Schmelk at one point that um he
38:29
he he played against the Giants in that game. It's uh it's interesting. I I I
38:36
think we're going to see a lot of stuff move around. I I I really have a problem with the fact that Isudo is still listed
38:42
as even one of the tackles. Well, I put him there. I put him there
38:47
because he was there for one of the OTAAS and but I don't think he that's
38:52
where they're playing him now. I tried to balance this out a little bit too because I didn't want it to be at like
38:58
just two left tackles here. I think if they get down to So there So remember Andrew Thomas hasn't been practicing
39:05
right. Um, so Hudson's been the first team left tackle in practice. That's been pretty much a given. And they, like
39:11
I said, Marcus Bo has been over I think Foresight has also been over there. So So remember, Foresight has played both
39:19
right and left tackle. Hudson has played right and left tackle. Hudson said he's
39:25
primarily been only playing left tackle in the OTAAS. He did say that. Isudu, I
39:30
put this to balance it out a little bit, but I don't know. I I think Isudu is gonna have a hard time making this team
39:36
unless there's an injury or unless he really really looks good or Neil looks really bad. I think Isudu is going to
39:42
have have trouble. Um so I we can we can get into that. I I feel bad for the guy.
39:48
I think they've screwed Isudu. I think they've mismanaged that. If you want to be critical of the Giants, be critical
39:56
of the way how they've handled Josh Audu and be critical of the way that um
40:01
again, injuries were a factor in this, but look, a lot of times teams will mock
40:06
fans for being um having naive opinions
40:12
or amateur opinions, but the fans were right about putting Neil at guard. I mean, we for you
40:18
Yeah, it's been we've been bitching about Neil's not a tackle. move him to guard and and it's like no no no he's the tackle. Well,
40:25
guess where we're at right now. So, sometimes the fans are right. Well, and it's, you know, it's a little
40:30
bit like last year and and I think and and I and correct me if I'm wrong because if I'm if I'm putting you in a
40:37
spot that I'm not right about, correct me, but we I think we debated it when there was injuries. I immediately said
40:44
they need to move aluminor to left tackle. And the Giants thought process, well, you don't want to move too many
40:49
people. You're already have. And my thought is I don't give a about who how many people you're moving. I want a
40:55
guy who can actually play tackle out of tackle. Putting a zudo just back out there to act to just be horrible is
41:02
doesn't make any sense just because you want to keep stability to the other side. What did they ultimately do? They
41:07
moved the Luminor over. I would rather be this the second or third left tackle
41:13
if that's the case. If Hudson becomes the and and you throw other guys in at right tackle because my quarterback sees
41:20
in that direction. He not see the backside. I want that if he's right-handed. I want a I want a guy who
41:26
can pass block on the left side. I don't want to put a guy out there and just go, well, you know, he's the guy that we
41:32
threw out. You you you got to do what's best. So, I like that we have some moving piece. I'm with you. Let's keep
41:38
with the left tackle group that you have there. Hudson clearly is the guy right now. Azudu is the guy only because of
41:45
numbers based on what they were doing at the moment. Like, you know, you had
41:50
Renan wasn't practicing. Van Roen was practicing a little bit. So, you've got other guys now having to to play in the
41:55
guard spots on the on the right side of the of the of the line. You've got Aluminor out
42:01
there, but you already know he's the guy. You're not going to move him over to left right now. You're just going to let other guys because it's practice.
42:07
It's not it's not even it's not even practice practice. It's training. So, I can see that Azudo's gota his his path
42:14
to this team literally has to be he lights it up at
42:20
guard and those other guards have to look bad, right? And that's where I'm at. I say I
42:26
think the tackle class, the tackles are easy to guess who would be on this team
42:32
barring injury. It's going to be Thomas and Illuminor starting and it's going to be Hudson and Bo as the backups. And I
42:38
don't think most teams can't carry more than four tackles. Can it happen? Sure. Especially if one's kind of like a guard
42:44
tackle um versatile kind of player, but I think they're going to carry four and I think
42:50
it's going to be So I think Foresight is probably not going to make this team and I think Zudu is probably not going to
42:56
make this team unless what exactly you just laid out happens that he really lights it up at guard. The problem is is
43:03
this is one of my one of the things I hate about the evolution of football is that the training camps are so short now
43:11
and the number of padded practices are so few. I don't know how you develop an
43:16
offensive lineman anymore. So the OTAAS, they can't really get better other than just pretending they're blocking
43:23
somebody and working on their technique. But then you you everyone says, "Yeah, when we get to training camp, we'll
43:29
figure it out." Well, training camp's short and when you add it all up, it's
43:34
only like 10 padded practices. How are How is somebody like Joshudu
43:40
supposed to make enough noise in 10 practices to unseat somebody? I don't Is
43:46
it possible? Sure. I don't know. But that that's why I feel bad for him because he's been injured quite a bit
43:53
and then when he hasn't, they've I think they've b I've they've botched his development. And this doesn't just go
43:59
back to it's been multiple offensive line coaches that have done this. You know, it was Bobby Johnson and now it
44:06
was Carmen. They both played him at left. I mean, it happened. They put him at left tackle last year for one game.
44:12
It was a train wreck and they immediately shifted him. So, why did they do that again? I mean, so the good
44:17
news is this. They finally said, "You know what? We're not going to go into a
44:22
season and have to rely on Evan Neil and Josh Isudu to play tackle if our starters get hurt. They finally said
44:29
we're going to bring in a Hudson. We're going to bring in a foresight. And what we're going to have to find out
44:35
now, were those the right free agents? Were they are they able to evaluate offensive linemen both in the draft? Are
44:40
they able to evaluate offensive linemen in free agency? Hopefully Chris Sne has had a role in all of this too and he's
44:46
good at what he does. I don't know. But that's where we're at right now is is and here's the quote on Hudson by the
44:52
way. This is this did stand out to me. So he said, and he's talking about Hudson. He says, "He's done a great job.
44:59
We really like James. He's been a good addition to the room and he's been a good addition to the line in the sense
45:05
of the traits he has and can apply. We're really excited about him." I again
45:11
and that's again he's not one of these coaches like Dable that usually comes out and says
45:17
this guy's awesome. He's not he's pretty reserved. So when he said that I thought oh maybe maybe he's doing pretty well.
45:25
Um we'll see we'll see when the pads come on and he's going to have to block Brian
45:31
Burns and Abdul Carter and he's going to have to block um Kavon Tibido. So he's
45:36
going to have a good test. What's going to be really interesting getting back to Thomas is when when training camp starts
45:42
is Thomas on the pup? Is he is he focal or you know even is he does he or do
45:48
they manage him and he does practice some or is he on the pup and we'll find out. Dable did say earlier in the spring
45:55
that they expect everyone to be available for for camp. We we'll have to see. There is that linebacker that they
46:01
signed at Taurus Peek who's still on the roster. I can't imagine he's going to be ready for camp that Victor Demunica Jay
46:08
um yeah pack but again that he's another there's another indication that Thomas
46:13
is probably on the right track but it was what Brian Dable said. So and the hard thing about camp now too
46:19
with what you just brought up right is the preseason games. It used to be there were four games, right?
46:26
Game one you saw some of the guys, game two they
46:31
played more, three was like a dress rehearsal, four they didn't really play. Now there's three games. And what we've
46:37
seen from most teams is they don't play. The third game it's it's basically everybody who's not making the team.
46:44
It's become ridiculous. It used to be the starters would play a little bit in the first game, but it was mainly the
46:50
backups. In a second game, they would play a half. In a third game, they'd play three quarters. And then in the
46:56
last game, it would only be like a series or two. And then they would But like you just said, that starters don't
47:02
even play in the preseason anymore. Yeah. Sometimes. And And they don't play at all. Like some guys don't play at
47:08
all. And the Giants aren't in that position. Number one, you've got an entire offensive team. The difference
47:14
though, and you've pointed that out, and I know we're trying to do the offensive line, but just for a second. The difference is the Giants brought back
47:20
everybody except for the back. So anybody else that's on board is just new guys added to the group. But the bulk of
47:28
the starter guys or at least the guys that were starters, they all came. Stunning. It's stunning. Yeah.
47:33
So So that part makes it a little easier. But if Thomas doesn't play in if
47:39
he's not ready for week one preseason and he doesn't play in week two, he's
47:45
not playing in week three. I guarantee you. which means no game action for him will be happening until week one. That
47:51
that's a little worrisome. So, I hope he gets at least some I just want him to get his feet wet, be out there and
47:57
comfortable. But again, we had other guys that have done this before and he's
48:02
a veteran. Can he be ready when the bell rings? Sure. But it's different when you're
48:07
coming off an in like you you gota that first few hit, you know, getting in there. So, I would like to see him get
48:14
game action. But Pup will be interesting. I think that's a big thing is that who's on there.
48:20
So that's the left tackle group overall and I think we've we you kind of got that covered.
48:25
Let's look at let's skip the guards for a second and go to center because I think guards are going to play a big role in center. The center group is four
48:33
deep on this screen. In reality, the center group is probably about six or seven deep if you mix in the guards.
48:40
Yes. Well, and I Yeah. I'm thinking to me when you look at this group, those
48:46
three backup centers I don't think stand much of a chance of making this team. No. No. And they and and and I I think
48:52
the backup center on this team is Van Roen. So I think Van Roten in an ideal world is a is a backup guard center on
49:02
in a perfect world. You have somebody like Anneil or Kubis
49:07
um or next year they get a draft pick or another veteran. remember they did try
49:12
to get was it freeze or fries from the Colts, right? And I the a lot of people didn't pick
49:18
this up, but when one of the Joe Shane interviews he mentioned the Kansas City
49:23
guard, I can't think of his name right now. Um who's so good, he's an allp pro that he said, you know, that guy didn't
49:29
become available. It's not like we could have pursued him, but he's mentioned his name and I'm like, so I think they I
49:36
think I in a perfect world they would have a another stud guard and I think that's
49:42
I I think Van Roten is best suited for backup. But I I wouldn't be shocked if Van Roten starts, but I think Van Roten
49:48
is your if John Michael Schmidz got gets hurt or just shits the bed, I think Van
49:55
Roten's your center. I don't think it's Morris and Hudson are probably going to end up, one of them is probably going to end up on the practice squad again,
50:01
right? Slottman was a guy they signed last year to be the backup center, a veteran
50:07
backup center who started. Unfortunately, he got hurt in in the summer, missed almost all of the season.
50:14
I think he came back like at the very end of the season. I don't even know if he played though. Um,
50:19
and he had a two-year contract. Again, kind of like the Hudson thing. So, they they Giants don't tend to offer u more
50:27
than a one-year contract or Joe Shane doesn't tend to offer more than a one-year contract unless they kind of like somebody. So, I think they like
50:33
Schlottman, but I don't see a path for him unless he's so good in camp because
50:41
I think Van Roten gives you Van Roen does two things and is you and they did
50:46
it last year. Van Roen played center last year so Schmidz was hurt. So, I think it's going to be the same thing.
50:51
So, I think the three guys that you behind center, I think you're right. I don't think they're going to be on They may be on the practice squad, but I
50:57
don't think they're going to be on the team. Not all three of them, but positional versatility is is huge in in
51:03
an offensive line setting because again, you can only carry so many and you are only going to have so many active on
51:10
game day. So, you might have more guys, but only so many are active on game day. So, an Aaron Stinny, a guy I'm not
51:16
overly thrilled with, brings both guard center capability. He can play center as well. Uh Marcus is a guy that has
51:25
been talked about a potential center down the road. I don't think the Giants have used him at all like that, but
51:30
there was talk that other teams were already thinking of him that way. Van Roen is a guy that gives you tackle
51:37
potential. He has played tackle before. He could be bumped out to tackle or
51:42
center if injuries ravage the team. So, and he's the guy I brought up in the
51:47
offseason that I thought might come back. You didn't think he was going to come back. I thought he was going to come back because they it's a veteran
51:54
presence. So they have a pretty veteran line if you go with the starters the way they are except for Schmidz. They Thomas
52:02
Renan, Vanroen, Aluminor have all been in the league for a number of years. So
52:07
these guys, that cohesive veteran piece, especially if you want to bring a guy
52:12
like Jake Kubis, who I think also has center potential down the road, but it seems to be a guy the Giants really
52:19
like. So for center, Schmidz is the guy though. Let's start there. This to me is
52:24
this is a makeorb breakak year for this dude. Yeah. And I'm kind of in there are a
52:29
couple players on this team or a few players on this team that I think people are are are really
52:38
I I'm not saying they're they're wrong, but I think they're a little too harsh and I I think people are too harsh on
52:43
Kavon Tibido and I think people have been too harsh on John Michael Schmidz. I don't think they've lived up to their
52:49
draft status. I think when John Michael Schmidz was drafted in the second round, people expected more of him. when when
52:55
when um Tibido was drafted seventh overall, I think people expected more of him. I know they expected more of him,
53:02
but they haven't been dreadful. I think people see like that play against Tampa Bay where he got
53:08
ragdowed and that st that sticks in their head and they think Schmidz sucks.
53:13
I don't think Schmidt suck. Schmidz is another guy who can't he's got to stay healthy. Even when he has been playing,
53:19
he's been playing hurt. My biggest problem with with a lot of these guys, the Giants in general, again, I I
53:25
understand people get hurt, but they seem to be get they seem when you get hurt every year and John Michael Schmidz
53:31
hasn't gone through a year completely healthy. And Carmen Briscillo talked about that, too. My sense is the Giants are much
53:39
higher on John Michael Schmidz than the fan base is. And I think what they did
53:44
in free agency also is indicates that as well. Mir Marcus Bo comment is spoton.
53:51
There are people that think his best position ultimately might be center.
53:58
Bracilo was asked about position versatility with him. And he said, you know, and I think this is smart, they
54:04
don't want to overwhelm a guy, a rookie, by having him play everywhere. You want to him master something first before you
54:10
start sure playing. Don't pull another Joshua. In other words, don't start flipping him all over the place. I think I would keep
54:18
Bo at tackle. I think I think people again got hooked on the draft guides
54:23
with the arm length thing and don't think Bo can handle tackle even though Bo's got fantastic feet and is really
54:29
really athletic and um his his arm length thing was overblown. They botched
54:35
the measurement at the combine. He doesn't have the 32 inch arms. They're I think they're 33. Ideally, you want 34
54:42
inch arms. his arms are a inch shorter than than ideal. That to me that's not
54:48
make or break for for offensive lineman. But that being said, Bracilo said he's
54:54
he's capable of playing all five positions. And when he said that, that implies center. So I think the change so
55:00
it's not out of the realm of possibility a year or two years from now Bose's the
55:06
starting center on this team. Is that going to happen? I don't know. But but I but I that's something to to so if
55:13
you're looking long term and you're thinking well who who we have to draft a new center now or we have to sign a
55:19
center in pre- agency maybe not. It depends on how they feel feel about bowl Kubis
55:25
is a guy that you and I have kind of liked. Um and there was a really interesting
55:31
comment in on BBI from Bitey Max. Did you see his comment? Uh, I didn't I
55:37
didn't see his. I saw somebody else who basically thinks everybody who talks about Kubis is insane. No. By Max wrote this. He says, "As hat
55:46
info on two players, and it's the only ass hat info that I have at all." And he said, "I have a couple of people that
55:52
have family members that work for the Giants. Their intel is spotty at best, but one thing I've heard is that when I
55:59
hear it from both, it's usually accurate. They're they've they've both been emphatic that the team loves Kubis
56:06
and thinks that he's a good shot to start. Um and then the other one was on
56:11
I think it was on Marcus Bull. Let me see. Um
56:17
yeah, and the thing about that that they think he might be able to play center that he might be able to play center. So
56:22
So both of what you've said has been sort of backed up by biting max and that that would be great. I mean, if if they
56:29
have something in Kubis, that would be awesome. So, I said earlier on in my um
56:37
preview on the offensive line that Kubis might actually have a clearer path to
56:42
start than Neil because Kubis is playing at the right guard position where
56:48
practicing at the right guard and Kubis was first team right guard for much of the spring. Neil was left team um I'm
56:56
sorry first team left guard much of the spring but the problem with Neil is he's he's he's behind Renan whereas Kubis is
57:03
behind Van Roen I and Renion Renan is a guy who again he's another one that people are knocking I don't again he's
57:10
not an all he's not Chris Snee but John Renan is exactly what the Giants expected him to be again except for
57:17
getting hurt again I don't think and he's getting too much money is going to start on this offensive fine as somebody
57:23
posted a thing about trading him. They're not going to trade John Renan. You can't. Well, they're not just
57:28
I mean, you can't I mean, think about this. First off, this is it's I don't know who said it and please don't take this.
57:33
I think it was Milton. I think Milton said that's kind of idiotic. A he's expensive. B he's coming off injury.
57:40
What are you going to get for him? Like you going to eat a bunch of cap and you're trying to trade an injured guy
57:46
and they like him and he is what he is what they thought he was be. He came from Green Bay has a reputation as being
57:52
a strong pass blocker, not ideal run blocker, and that's what he was with the Giants. He wasn't awful as a run
57:58
blocker, but he's not a big physical move them out. The Giants are predominantly have been getting
58:05
offensive linemen that are are better suited to a zone running scheme. They're more athletic players that you want to
58:13
move. They're not a power team, and you don't want to start m mixing matching
58:18
those two schemes. You either want to be one or the other. You don't want to be you want to be all power or you want to
58:24
be an athletic line. And the Giants have an athletic line. Andrew Thomas is athletic. Renan is athletic. Um
58:31
Illuminor is athletic. These are athletic. Marcus Bull, by the way, is maybe the best athlete of the group
58:37
other than Thomas. Marcus Bull is is is and and I've been watching more clips of
58:42
him, but I can see why they they were actually using him at left tackle a little bit. Um, he might be able to play
58:48
that in a pinch, too. I'm actually not sure why Purdue didn't play him at left tackle because he's that athletic. I
58:54
don't know what who their left tackles at Purdue. Maybe they had a role in it. So, so, but I So, to me, tackle's easy
59:01
to kind of predict. Guard center is easy to predict in the sense I think it's going to be Schmidz with Van Roen. It's
59:08
the guard spots to me that are harder to pick. I think if Bidey Max is correct and the team really likes Kubis, Kubis
59:15
is making the team. Van Roen brings too much to the table just as a backup if
59:21
not a starter and Renan's going to make the team. So the question is is what is
59:27
Evan Neil's role on this team? And does anyone else have a shot? I think Aaron
59:32
Stinny, it's a bad sign if Aaron Stinny makes the team again. I like him as a person. Um, I think he's he's a guy that
59:40
I would love the Giants to try to be able to flip for a seventh round draft
59:45
pick if they're going to cut him. Like somebody around the league could use an Aaron Stiny as a backup, a six or
59:51
seventh round draft pick. I Evan Neil, it would be great to me. The big unknown coming into this camp is what is Evan
59:58
Neil still? Is Evan Neil a total bust or is he make enough noise at guard that
1:00:05
you're like, "God damn, we got to play him. He's too good." That's that to me that's the biggest question. I don't know what your biggest question, but to
1:00:11
me the biggest question is Evan Neil still. Yeah. So I that's a huge one. Um, you
1:00:18
almost wonder if they waited too long to do it because you're you're in a position.
1:00:26
This would have been ideal last year. Now you're in a position you have the
1:00:31
you have to win like Dball. Yes, we'll get to that a little bit more when we do the quarterbacks. There might be a
1:00:38
piece that bought him time, but that only works depending on certain things happening.
1:00:44
Neil's part and guard. So, um, a couple things. First, overall for the offensive
1:00:50
line, there's two things to me that make an offensive line work. You nailed it right about you're either all one way or
1:00:56
you're all the other. You generally don't have a mix of the two. Like, oh, we got we got power guys over here and these guys are finesse. That doesn't
1:01:03
really work because if you have a wide zone running scheme, you you can't do that because then you got that can't do that. So,
1:01:10
so the Giants when I think one of the biggest problems that they had isn't that some of these guys aren't talented.
1:01:18
I think that what they are talented in and how that works as a unit suffered
1:01:24
from two very big things. One, injury. When Thomas gets injured, that changes
1:01:29
everything. When you have another injury elsewhere, that changes everything. And guys,
1:01:35
guys can no longer maximize their strengths. their weaknesses get exposed
1:01:40
when they're having to do too much and that's been a problem. The second part is we also put a big negative piece in
1:01:48
the back field and that's the quarterback. When the quarterback is limited and he is, teams are not afraid
1:01:56
to gamble and when they gamble they they rush the line. They overload the line.
1:02:02
Now the line gets exposed even more because the you're not going to line up. There has never been a team outside of
1:02:09
maybe the Raiders of the 70s, maybe the Steelers if you want to go there, that
1:02:14
have like all pro guys across the entire line and that you can just put five guys
1:02:19
and they can handle eight or nine. It's not going to happen. Even the Giants best teams or Super Bowl
1:02:25
teams, 86, 907, and 11, their offensive lines weren't superstar offensive lines.
1:02:33
They were unbelievably cohesive units that worked together very well. One, you'd have one guy that was a Pro
1:02:40
Bowler kind of on all those lines. 86 Brad Benson came out of nowhere to really become that he that was his best
1:02:46
year. Yeah. And let's be honest, Brad Benson kind of got that because of the the game against Dexter Manley, you know, when he
1:02:52
we got that he was the first offensive lineman ever to win player of the week and that propelled him to the not that
1:02:58
he was bad. Look, but Brad wasn't the kind of guy that you I mean, look, we're talking about an era where you had the
1:03:04
Anthony Munoz's playing wasn't Anthony Munoz or John Hannah or
1:03:10
anything like that. He was a journeyman tackle who had an awesome year for one
1:03:15
year and he was a and he was a guard before that. And so what you want is cohesion
1:03:20
and the Giants got cohesion in in the from ' 05 to07 when we win the Super Bowl. You get Kareem McKenzie on one
1:03:26
side. You've you've got you brought you know David Deal was moved all over the place on on those offensive lines. You
1:03:33
had you had Snee at guard. You know you had your your centerpiece. They were a cohesive unit.
1:03:39
Exactly. And that's what you kind of want is it cohesion is more important in
1:03:44
this case. Sometimes the sum is greater than the parts. And that and that's what
1:03:50
it often is on the offensive line. I remember I keep bringing this up because I can vividly remember it. people saying
1:03:57
Shauna Harris sucks. He gets blown up too much. He's he's we got to get
1:04:03
replace him. And now Shauna Harris considered like fans very fondly. And
1:04:08
same thing with David Deal. David Deal stinks. We got to get rid of David Deal. But again, it's it's selective memory
1:04:14
with a lot of this stuff. So, the Giants offensive line of Thomas Renan, Schmidz,
1:04:20
Van Roten, and Illuminor had a darn good six for six games of the year last year.
1:04:27
Not perfect, but given who was at quarterback and the state of the team, they it was the best the offensive line
1:04:33
had played in almost a decade or maybe literally a decade. And then
1:04:39
Thomas got hurt. They put in a zudu. He he was awful. And then they they got the
1:04:44
guy off the the practice squad of the 49ers to come in for two games and he was terrible. And then they finally did
1:04:50
what you said. They put aluminino against the fans were right. They should have listened to the fans in that case.
1:04:56
Illuminor ended up being the guy. The problem was then Renan got hurt and Schmidz got hurt. So when so so that's
1:05:05
and then so people are thinking of last year's offensive line. First of all, remember the year before the Giants had
1:05:11
given up 85 sacks. It was a ridiculous. It was the long most sacks in the a team
1:05:16
has given up since the Eagles back in like I forget what year, but it was the most sacks second most sacks ever in NFL
1:05:23
history. They cut that in half. Not still not They got to do better, but they cut it in half even with the line
1:05:29
that everybody says it was a train wreck last year. They had Tyrone Tracy doing pretty well and the four
1:05:36
quarterbacks are playing and and all that. So, it's a combination of things. the injuries hit and exactly what you
1:05:42
said the the quarterback situ four quarterbacks playing and by the end of the year we had Ciney playing they had
1:05:50
um the guy that Tyrie um who's the guy that was on our practice squad the guy that everyone
1:05:57
wants to resign all the time um Tyrie was playing right tackle I think his name was Tyrie I can't think of his name
1:06:03
right now but we had guys playing last year at Tyreek Phillips is it Tyreek Phillips I think so
1:06:08
I think I think it is I think yeah Um and Kubis was playing was playing. So at
1:06:15
the end of the year the the line was like this this so people are remember that but they don't remember the first six games. Again it's it's a selective
1:06:22
memory thing. The thing they changed hopefully is that Hudson
1:06:28
and Bo can now come in and play tackle at a level way above Joshua Zudu and an
1:06:36
Evan Neil if somebody gets hurt. people. Yeah, Evan Neil came back. Evan Neil could not practice last spring. He was
1:06:43
He's still recovering in summer. He didn't he couldn't practice. That's why they didn't they they couldn't do what you suggested. And that's been part of
1:06:50
the problem with Neil is because he didn't come back until midway through last year. He comes back um and he gets
1:06:58
hurt again and he sucks again at right tackle, but he gets hurt again. He has a hip injury and there was another injury,
1:07:04
too. And um so Neil first round, fifth
1:07:09
player over o overall taken and he can't even play right tackle. That that's been
1:07:14
just a disaster for for the for this team. So but now they don't have to rely on Evan Neil and they don't have to rely
1:07:20
on Joshua. We have to see if they Hudson and and Bo can play if something happens
1:07:26
to Thomas or Illuminor. But I like Thomas is healthy and Illuminor is
1:07:32
healthy. I like our tackles. I mean, this is a good tackle group with the Giants can win with Andrew Thomas and I
1:07:38
luminar tackle. So, now it comes down to what you said. What do we have in John Michael Schmidz?
1:07:44
And I think Renan's fine. And I think Van Roen is he's he be he's serviceable. He's not
1:07:52
going to blow anyone away. He's but he's not going to embarrass you either. He's the one guy when Sai was writing his
1:07:58
reports on these five guys, he said, I think he said it at one time, if I if I
1:08:03
was going to replace one of these guys, I would replace Van Roten and make him a backup. And that's kind of where I'm at
1:08:08
right now, too. So, if Kubis or Neil can take Van Roen's spot, that would be
1:08:17
great. But this gets into what you were saying. Do they want to experiment too
1:08:22
much when Brian Dable's job is on the line? Do they want to get too cute here or are they gonna play it safe? So, I
1:08:29
think they I think they have an adequate line, but they don't have a Philadelphia Eagle, Detroit Lion type of line.
1:08:36
So, would you you you before we kind of finish it with kind of
1:08:41
who I think it's safe to say we can we can we can pencil eight guys in and they're
1:08:48
probably going to be the eight. It's then what we what do we do after that? So, you've got the five right now. But let's just say the five that you have
1:08:53
starting those five are there. Yes. Okay. Kubis and Hudson. And Hudson and so Hudson Kubis I think is the way
1:09:01
it sounds and the way he was and Bo. That's eight. Do you go nine or 10?
1:09:09
I think they can do 10 and they have done 10 in the past. I just don't know. I think they can. I think they have the
1:09:17
flexibility to go nine because of Van Roen. That's the thing. So, do you want to really carry a schlottman
1:09:25
instead of like an extra linebacker or an extra defensive back um or a tight
1:09:31
end? Um I think it comes down to this is
1:09:36
how do they view Stiny, Kubis, and Neil? Do they keep one of them or two of them?
1:09:44
That's what So, I would not keep three. All three. I think that that's way too
1:09:49
many. that. So that would be that would be what what are we at? I think I think Kubis is there as eight.
1:09:55
I think he's the eight. Oh, I think again again it's a it's an
1:10:01
internet rumor. It's bitey max who I I respect a great deal, but we know how
1:10:07
ass hat rumors can be. But if he's correct, the Giants are very high on Kubis and he's young and cheap. Why
1:10:14
would you get rid of him? Well, that's what I'm even if he doesn't start and like you said, he's got position flexibility. he could he could
1:10:19
might be able to play center. So, and and I think he he battled his way onto the team as an undrafted free
1:10:26
agent, which means he and from a lower level of competition. So, you didn't
1:10:32
even get the benefit of a full entire year of NFL weight training and and all
1:10:38
the other stuff that goes with it, right? You've got to assume unless he regressed
1:10:43
that he's improved. And if the Giants like him enough to even have him on the active roster versus the practice squad,
1:10:48
which they did, then I gotta think that guy's clear shot is making this team. So
1:10:54
for me, I'm just penciling him as eight. Yeah, I am too. But that's but that's largely based on again me reading the
1:11:03
tea leaves and the comment from Bitey. Um so we'll see. I think there's a lot
1:11:09
to like there. When he he was one of the guys that they interviewed that John Schm interviewed and in terms of
1:11:15
stature, he did not look as big and as mus bulked up muscle-wise as the other
1:11:21
offensive lineman. So, I think there's still room for him to grow physically in the weight room. He still looks not
1:11:28
small, he just doesn't look like um as bulked up as the the older veterans. So,
1:11:33
um we'll see. So, I I like St. I like Kubis on this team.
1:11:39
Here's the and we're at the one 1 hour and 11 minute mark, so we should wrap this up. The question here is, John, is
1:11:45
this some Giants fans are going to think this is a ludicrous
1:11:51
um thought, but it's really not. The offensive line play around the NFL is
1:11:56
awful because there aren't enough offensive line and we've as Giants fans focus on our own issues and and say we
1:12:04
have the worst line in the in the league and no one's going to want our players, but that's not necessarily true. There
1:12:11
is there are a lot of terrible offensive line. Even the Super Bowl Kansas City Chiefs,
1:12:16
they got abused in the Super Bowl by by by the Philadelphia Eagles.
1:12:23
and and um I could see a couple of the players that we cut
1:12:30
might be of interest to people and I can also see that the Giants might might
1:12:36
have a tough decision to make in this sense. What if somebody comes to you and says,
1:12:43
"We'll give you a late fourth round pick for Evan Neil."
1:12:49
Would you listen? And I I'm not saying that would happen. I'm just saying I'm wondering, you know, say he has a so-s
1:12:55
so training camp, but he looks pretty good in a preseason game, but he's not going to start. You like Kubis. You
1:13:01
still have Stinny on the team. Um, and somebody offers you a pick and you
1:13:07
know, Evan Neil, there's a good chance he might walk in free because he's going to be a free agent. They didn't pick up the fifth year option.
1:13:13
So, he's going to walk. So to me, one of the interesting things here is not only
1:13:18
is how good does Neil look in the summer, but
1:13:24
does he not look good enough that you might listen to a trade offer for him that somebody will say, you know what, this was a
1:13:31
um top seven draft pick a couple years ago. He has tools. We like him for our
1:13:38
our our power scheme. This is another team. We like them for our power scheme. We're going to take a we're going to
1:13:44
take a shot at him. I don't know if I would do it for a fifth or a sixth, but if you're going to if you're borderline
1:13:50
with him anyway and you think he's going to walk and he's not going to start, I mean, would you listen to offers for him?
1:13:55
I mean, I would, but I'm I'll say this. I doubt you're going to get anything over a six in camp.
1:14:01
You might not. Yeah. Because of what you just laid out. He's going to walk at the end of the year. There's no way. I mean, he would have to
1:14:08
tear it up and be the starting guard for the Giants and they would have to
1:14:14
franchise him because they're not probably not going to get a deal done with him and to franchise them and then
1:14:19
work a deal out there. That's that's not going to happen. I don't see him beating any of these guys out to start because
1:14:24
he's just he hasn't played yet. Even if he the only way he's getting in there as a starter is if someone were to get
1:14:30
hurt. He's got to look awesome right away in to be a backup to
1:14:36
well to even press for a starting position. I mean I mean some people are saying they they they think Neil can
1:14:41
start this year but he's got to look good immediately at guard and like
1:14:46
better than Van Roen at guard. He's got to So they say they said they were going to play their five best guys. This gets
1:14:53
back to my training camp comment being too short and not enough padded practices. He's got to look really good
1:15:00
quickly in order for them to say, you know what, we're gonna play him over Van Roen. And I don't know if he's got
1:15:06
enough time to do that. That that's the clock is working against him, too. So
1:15:11
part of me says we're going to go a big part of me says the starting five are going to be Thomas Ren, Schmidz,
1:15:16
Vanroen, Illuminor. Maybe Kubis is pushing Van Roen. Right.
1:15:22
Then who's your other backup guard? Is it Neil Isudu Stinny? And what if Azudu
1:15:28
what if Azudu looks on the same plane as Neil? What if Azudu is like there's not
1:15:33
much difference between the two? I mean, who do you keep? I mean, well, then then it's cost, right? Save
1:15:40
money. So, or interest from other teams that say, you know what, I want to I'll give you a six round draft pick for this guy,
1:15:47
right? Yeah. I mean, I think that's a good point. the the guard piece gets a little
1:15:53
weird. Yes, it does. If Kubis beats out Van Roen, Van Roen
1:15:58
becomes the backup guard and the backup center. So then, so what's Neil's role on this team at
1:16:04
that point who's going to be a free agent the following year? That's my issue is I hope they're thinking I hope the
1:16:10
Giants are thinking strategically like this thinking, look, this year is important. I'm excited about this year.
1:16:15
I don't think they're going to be a playoff team, but I'm actually looking forward to this because the corpse of Daniel Jones is off this freaking team.
1:16:22
I'm just glad to and and the team looks like it's going to have some fun players. I'm actually looking forward to this team. It's the most excited I've
1:16:29
been about the Giants in a long time. But the real
1:16:34
push is going to be next year and the year after when darts finally starts.
1:16:40
So, right now, I hope they're thinking about 2026
1:16:47
as much as 2025. I know the coach isn't, but I hope the GM is. So, part of me is
1:16:52
like, get picks before you lose these guys again. And and we've talked about the Barclays of the world in the past,
1:16:59
and they they did it with Leonard Williams. They didn't do it with Barkley. We could go on and on about who they didn't Xavier McKenna is another
1:17:04
one. They didn't do it. But, but again, people are gonna be like, "Who cares about a fifth or sixth round pick?" I
1:17:10
do. I think you can get players out of those. We've got players starting on the Giants right now who are fifth round
1:17:15
draft picks. Starting on the team, not just deaf, they're starting. So, if Evan Neil plays in the third
1:17:22
preseason game and he's not on the first team line in the third preseason game,
1:17:29
he's out of here. I would think so because the third season because the third because the
1:17:35
third preseason game is all backups. And if you're not the starting backup, you're not a backup. So,
1:17:41
so my question is is this and it's the biggest question to me on this and this is the relates to the Evan Neil who I
1:17:47
said earlier was the biggest question is who is the backup guard on this team. I
1:17:52
know who the backup center is. It's Van Roen. I know who the backup tackles are and I think I know who the starters are
1:17:59
except Vanroton might be pressed by Neil or Neil or Kubis. But assuming Van Roen
1:18:05
starts, Kubis is your backup guard. Number one backup guard, right? I think it's
1:18:11
What is Neil then? What's Neil to you at that point? Well, see that's the thing. Here's the thing that works either in his favor or
1:18:19
works against him. Runan is coming off injury. Yeah.
1:18:24
If the Giants want to bring him along slowly, that means more playing time for the other guys to show what they can do
1:18:31
and Neil has a chance to win it. Yes. If the Giants feel like they need to get cohesion because Renan's been
1:18:38
out, Thomas has been out and those guys need more time together, that means though the guys who are third on the
1:18:45
chart, you're not playing much and that's going to be a real problem. It goes either way. I think Neil's biggest
1:18:51
thing is he's got to show very early that he can be he can be a physically dominant run
1:18:58
blocking guard and an acceptable pass blocker. Exactly. And you made a really smart
1:19:04
comment right there, John. In a sick way, Neil's best
1:19:09
hope is if they take it easy with Renion at the start of camp. That's a really smart comment you just made. If Renan is
1:19:16
starting right away at left guard, Neil has less of a chance to impress. He's
1:19:22
kind of got to get in the starting lineup and the co get the coaches to say, "Damn, you know what? He's doing a
1:19:28
really good job." So, the worst case scenario for the Giants is this is if Neil looks really good for one year,
1:19:36
they resign him to a huge contract and and it's a mistake. That's the worst case scenario for him. The best case
1:19:43
scenario for him is is he like William Roberts 2.0 at this point or better. Um,
1:19:49
that would be the best case scenario, too. But the I'll hold my breath, too. Even if Neil kicks kicks butt this year,
1:19:55
I'll still hold my breath if he's the long-term answer at the at the position. So, um I'm going to wrap this up with my
1:20:02
my comments with this because we're getting long here. I this offensive line is better than people think it is. It's
1:20:09
not great. I'm not Don't get me wrong on I'm not saying it's a great offensive line, but there are a lot of teams in
1:20:15
the league that would love to have Andrew Thomas and Luminor as their tackles.
1:20:20
Renan is fine. He's not a problem. He's as same plane as a lot of guards that
1:20:26
were on those Super Bowl Giants teams. He's the same type of I'm not saying he's Chris Snee, but he's he's he's a
1:20:31
Billy Ard like think, you know, he's that kind of guy on that team or he's um
1:20:38
I have to go through the through guys Chris Godfrey Godfrey or something like that.
1:20:43
Ban Rowan is the guy again you kind of want to be sort of like the swing guy, but you can you can get by with him. So,
1:20:49
this is not a terrible offensive line, but it's an area that I have said and have repeatedly have said when I go into
1:20:57
off next off seasonason, there are two positions I want the Giants to address address still big time. Wide receiver
1:21:04
and the offensive line. And I think what we're all hoping for is Andrew Thomas
1:21:09
gets the injury bug past him. And I I want to remind people that people who are saying Andrew Thomas is this injury
1:21:17
machine. Remember the first injury that we're talking about was the hamstring pull that came happened on a blocked
1:21:25
field goal where he was running down the field. It was a fluke play. We're not he's we're not talking about he tore a
1:21:31
calf muscle or he ACL or something like that. He pulled a a hamstring.
1:21:36
Stupidly they kept him in the game which made it worse and he was out eight weeks. So, one of the injuries we're
1:21:41
talking about, again, I'm at the m trying to minimize it, but it's not like we're talking about this hor horrific,
1:21:47
terrible like torn ligaments and things. It's not, it was a hamstring pull. It's not like that Liz Frank was serious.
1:21:54
That's a serious injury, but let's not again overemphasize certain things. And
1:22:00
that and with Andrew Thomas, if he can play 17 games, and that's what he said, that's what he said with um John Schmel.
1:22:06
He he said, "What is your He said, "What are you working on this year? What do you want to get better at?" And Andrew
1:22:12
Thomas's answer was, "My number one goal is to play all 17 games." And he said,
1:22:17
"That's that's everything I'm focused on right now is make sure my body I don't go through this crap again." That that's
1:22:24
where he's at. So he's he if he plays if you can tell me he can play 17 games, I
1:22:29
think our offensive line's going to be pretty good. The wild card is is Hudson actually any good? And that's why I
1:22:36
thought Carmen Bracil's comments were interesting. The history of Hudson is like, "No, you know, he was he was okay
1:22:42
in Cleveland, but he was a backup for a reason and he was a developmental guy,
1:22:47
but they've been playing him at left tackle and they paid him a lot of money to be a backup and they've said nice
1:22:54
things about him. So, if Hudson can handle left tackle, that that's big, too. The Giants are pretty young at running
1:23:01
back. They're fairly young if you take man herds out of the equation at tight end.
1:23:07
Yes, the Giants are somewhat young at wide receiver minus Sllayton unless they keep
1:23:12
one of the the like Pascal who they signed and then he's been in the league for a few years. They're pretty young
1:23:18
overall. Giants offensive line is not that young overall across the board, including the
1:23:24
vet. They've got some vets they brought in. They're not old, but they brought some vets. Stinn's been around for a
1:23:29
while. Hudson's been around for a while. Schlotsman's been in the league. I think the thing to watch for the Giants this
1:23:35
year is you've got a you've got a very veteran quarterback. You got an offensive line that I think
1:23:41
is designed to try to be cohesive and win now. Yes. Yes. And next year is when you're going to
1:23:47
start seeing the Giants relook at the lines, probably both sides of the line, offense and defense in the draft in free
1:23:54
agency with younger guys. keep an eye on a veteran guy from another team that is
1:23:59
expensive that they went in the youth movement and he gets cut that the Giants might bring a guy a vet in to be a
1:24:05
backup guard center or backup guard tackle and some of these other guys are just going to be out of the equation. Evan Neil to me is is is in a really bad
1:24:13
spot. He's got to either show it immediately or he's not going to show it at all. His position versatility
1:24:20
at tackle I think is done. The fact that you got rid of him at tackle, you don't want to put him back out there. He's
1:24:27
strictly a guard here for this team. Josh Lazudu is a guy that I think actually has a better shot than Evan
1:24:33
Neil just because he's a little bit more nimble. He's a guy you can pull and do
1:24:39
other stuff. And Neil is not really going to be that guy. And we don't know
1:24:44
how well Neil is from the waist down. He's had hip problems, he's had ankle
1:24:50
problems, he's had feet problems. He's a big dude and those things pop up quickly. Uh I'm not I'm not sold he's
1:24:57
going to be there. I think Kubis is there. I think B's going to get shots at guard if needed. Um it really comes down
1:25:04
to where's the Zudu, where is Aaron Stiny fall into that group and then is there a veteran that gets released
1:25:10
somewhere else? the Giants going and Neil what this is what you were getting at is Neil really the kind of
1:25:16
guy you want polling from guard and and that's where I'm
1:25:21
thinking you know he might be on the wrong team now if you're going to play him at guard he might be better suited
1:25:27
for a power scheme and that's why I'm saying perfect world and I know you people are
1:25:32
probably right about this and it's me being pie in the sky but if somebody offers me a fourth round pick for Evan
1:25:39
Neil and and I've got Kubis and I Kubis is looking pretty good and Isudu is playing
1:25:45
kind of in the same plane. I I might deal Neil before you lose him in free agency next year. I just don't know what
1:25:51
his long term, like you said, he's got to come out. He's in a bad spot and he's got to come
1:25:57
out right away. And it's almost got to be like you said, Renan's got to be like not 100% 100% healthy and he's got to
1:26:04
like look awesome right off the beginning and and to to really have a shot. If not, if he doesn't do that, I
1:26:11
don't know if he plays next year. And so, so because if you're gonna if if
1:26:18
to me the backup is gonna be the loser of the Van Ro and Kubis competition, right?
1:26:23
Yes, I agree. I agree. I mean, that's unless Neil again Neil could prove us all wrong and just look
1:26:28
awesome. So that I mean so hopefully he does that. But and if and if and if Ren's on the pup,
1:26:34
we don't know that he won't be like we don't know coming in because they they held him out of everything in in the in
1:26:41
the spring. So, where's Renan at in his rehab? He said he's fine. He said he's fine, but we'll see. We'll again, that's the
1:26:48
kind of thing I was trying to get at. You know, people were saying the things about um Andrew um Andrew Thomas, oh, he
1:26:56
didn't, you know, but they didn't make the same claims about Renan when Renan was was out. Yeah. So, so
1:27:02
and and Van Roen was was kind of they spaced him out because he's an older guy and stuff. So, we'll see. We'll see what
1:27:09
happens. I but I will say I think what you have on the screen is the five the the five starters are there minus Van
1:27:16
Roen Kubis I think could could switch and then because I think Van Roen's there to be the vet. He's there to
1:27:22
either start or to be the backup guard center. He's guaranteed to making this team. There's I don't think there's any
1:27:27
way Van Roen doesn't make the team unless Kubis beats him out completely
1:27:32
and then Evan Neil is just lighting it up at guard that the Giants go we want to keep him then they might but I think
1:27:40
Van Roen's the backup center. So I I really think he's guaranteed to make him this team. One last thing I I will say I keep
1:27:46
saying I'm going to say one last thing but one last thing that caught my eye right after the draft was they only
1:27:53
signed one rookie free agent offensive lineman. It's Williams, which told me
1:27:58
again that they and they only drafted one offensive line, which told me, right or wrong, they are higher on this group
1:28:05
than the fans are. So, they didn't like, you know, they they they signed like five five free agent wide receivers
1:28:13
after the draft, right? They only signed one offensive lineman and it was and they gave him a pretty
1:28:18
significant signing bonus. So, it'll be interesting to see if how if this Williams maybe this Williams can be the next
1:28:24
Kubis Kubis. We have to wait if Kubis does anything. Well, I mean the team,
1:28:29
but if he made the team, he would be the next Kubis, right? The undrafted guy who who makes the team,
1:28:34
right? So, um so guard last time tackle to me is easy. Center's easy to me. I
1:28:41
I'm curious to see what happens at guard. That's where I'm at right now. Guard to me is the one that's up in the
1:28:48
air. And I think watching uh Bo uh play, I want to see where they play him. If he
1:28:54
if they play him on both both sides during preseason, give him a chance to play a little left tackle, little right tackle, or does he play some at guard?
1:29:01
If he gets some guard play in there, that versatility that that just adds a little bit more. But last thing for me,
1:29:08
I think the Giants go with nine, maybe 10. And
1:29:14
the 10 depends on what they do at another position. tight end when they go
1:29:19
if they go four tight ends Herz becomes almost a de facto offensive lineman in
1:29:25
some cases so that helps them maybe go with nine but we'll we'll see how it all shakes out but uh
1:29:31
even looks like an offensive line that's a big dude now is that by the way you can see Jaylen Hyatt did
1:29:37
put on a lot of muscle in this picture too short I think he's the one you were saying he's grabbing himself
1:29:43
he's holding on to a lot of the muscle so is that Johnson directly in the middle is he the tallest dude Yes. Yeah.
1:29:48
Theo Johnson's big. I keep telling people when you see him in person, I mean, look how he's towering over
1:29:54
everybody. This isn't one of those optical illusion where like some guy's clo, you know, more in the foreground and he just he's not really bigger. He's
1:30:01
standing along with every he's huge. That guy is he he looks way bigger than his listed I mean that's that's he he's
1:30:08
standing next to like really big guys and he looks ginormous. Yeah, he I mean he literally looks like a basketball
1:30:14
player among among these guys of just from a height standpoint, right? um he should be a red zone threat and
1:30:20
something I really like from the tight end which I don't Russell Wilson's never been a huge throw to the tight end guy
1:30:28
but to have a guy of that size if you can move him even out just a little bit in in goal line situations Russell
1:30:35
Wilson is a very good you know get the ball to catch you at the at the arc the top of the of the the throw and a guy
1:30:42
like that can go up and get it I I like I'm with you I'm excited about what they can
1:30:48
Not necessarily expecting it's going to be great, but it certainly should be a lot more exciting.
1:30:55
The Johnson's interview with John Schmel, if you haven't seen it, with the tight end group, is very interesting. He seems like a different person. He not
1:31:01
only looks way more bulked up, but his personality, he seems very confident. He
1:31:08
last year he looked like a deer in headlights when I saw the similar interview. He even though he had that Liz Frank injury, he just sounds like he
1:31:16
knows he's good. And the other guy that sounded like he knows he's good, which is he's a rookie, is Marcus Bo. Marcus
1:31:22
Bo to me for a rookie, he seems the he seems a pretty confident dude. We'll see
1:31:28
if he's any good, but but um I was impressed with his personality. So I
1:31:33
would recommend if people haven't seen it, watch the position interviews. John Schmemell has been pumping out. They're
1:31:38
they're they're pretty good. Nice. So, I think we'll wrap we'll wrap it up there. That's the old line. We've
1:31:44
got other stuff this week where, you know, and I I'm I'm not going to nail down which is going to come first, but
1:31:49
we're definitely going to do the quarterbacks very soon. I'm looking forward to really because there's a lot there. It sounds pretty basic, right?
1:31:56
There's four guys. We're just No, it's there's a lot of things that are going to be at play and why those
1:32:02
things might be important. Really looking forward to talking about that. we've got more of the position groups. We can take a look across the league and
1:32:09
then kind of what we're doing um you know as we move forward. But uh and if you haven't seen it, please go back and
1:32:14
watch the Carl Banks interview. That was that was a lot of fun. And catch up on the OTAAS and anything else. Like,
1:32:20
subscribe, and all that good stuff. And and with that, Eric, I think we'll call this a close. And uh we'll be back with
1:32:25
everybody real soon.
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