For years, the offensive line has been an Achilles heel for the New York Giants. Because of that, the unit was constantly in flux.
Although there were some changes this offseason, the majority of the offensive line will finally remain the same. Rookie John Michael Schmitz is expected to start at center while the remainder of the group will reflect what we saw in 2022. It’s possible there’s a change at left guard but even if so, it will be a familiar face.
Andrew Thomas will man things at left tackle, Mark Glowinski at right guard and Evan Neal at right tackle.
For Thomas and Neal, that is music to their ears.
“It is great to be in the same system back-to-back years, so I’m looking forward to us growing as an offense,” Thomas said on the Giants Huddle Podcast. “It’s great. I mean, we’re not learning each other. We already understand what makes each other tick, understand the offense. You can start asking more questions, like really understanding the full process and not just regurgitating information. I’m looking forward to it.”
“It’s extremely helpful,” Neal added. “I mean, this is the first time that I’ve played the same position consecutive years in my life, you know what I’m saying? Even going back to high school. So, I’m definitely excited to see how I feel, for sure.”
Neal realizes he underperformed as a rookie after transitioning to right tackle but believes with a year under his belt, he’ll turn the corner this coming season.
“I feel like I gained a lot of experience going out there at right tackle,” Neal said. “I gained a lot of valuable experience that’s going to continue to carry me for the rest of my career. As far as meat on the bones, I guess you can say there’s just a lot left out there for me, you know what I’m saying? Obviously I played through things, missed five weeks, had a couple of poor performances and things like that, that I had to just kind of shake back from. But all in all, I’m proud of the way that I performed and I’m proud of my resiliency from my rookie year.”
