Very difficult to say anything nice about a team that gets me so riled up, but gotta admit they seem to continually invest draft capital in their offensive line:
Jordan Mailata: 2018 Draft (Round 7 / 15th Pick)
Landon Dickerson: 2021 Draft (Round 2 / 5th Pick)
Jason Kelce: 2011 Draft (Round 6 / 26th Pick)
Isaac Seumalo: 2016 Draft (Round 3 / 16th Pick)
Lane Johnson: 2013 Draft (Round 1 / 4th Pick)
Cam Jurgens: 2022 Draft (Round 2 / 19th Pick)
Andre Dillard: 2019 Draft: (Round 1 / 22nd Pick)
Jack Driscoll: 2020 Draft: (Round 4 / 39th Pick)
Not everyone is an All-Star, but whatever issues the Eagles have had over the past decade, their O-Line has held together fairly well.
I forget who it was, but someone once said that a team has to draft at least one offensive lineman every year. Maybe Joe Schoen / Brian Daboll will come close to doing just that!
I think you could probably say the same thing about a CB/DB, too.
It seems they have (or hopefully had) better people making the investment decisions not that they were simply making the investments.
Hard to out scheme physicality. Let's hope JS listened to his mentor and BD develops a run game.
I think you should be adding at least 3 OL every off season after round 2. Always try to replace somebody.
Eagles have stayed true to keeping those fronts strong for decades.
The Giants oline from the recent Super Bowl years featured a:
Mid price free agent center who elevated his game to a pro bowl level once on the gmen
A 5th round college left guard that somehow made the transition to above average left tackle
An UDFA right guard
This along with the premium investment in McKenzie and snee
Amazing to think that regime spent less on the oline than the late reese/gettleman years
It seems they have (or hopefully had) better people making the investment decisions not that they were simply making the investments.
The giants may have used. more draft picks and salary cap, but that is because they kept swinging and missing.
Hopefully we will be set at right and left tackle for years with Thomas and Neal. This will allow us to use salary cap and the draft to fill other positions with premium players.
The Giants oline from the recent Super Bowl years featured a:
Mid price free agent center who elevated his game to a pro bowl level once on the gmen
A 5th round college left guard that somehow made the transition to above average left tackle
An UDFA right guard
This along with the premium investment in McKenzie and snee
Amazing to think that regime spent less on the oline than the late reese/gettleman years
You also had the advantage of a different CBA and the new one has made it more important to draft well as you can't have that hands on development.
That OL was really good and sometimes outstanding. The problem was the forward vision in replacing them. Maybe a lower pick groomed to replace some of those starters. One of the most critical responsibilities of the FO is anticipation imv.
Kevin Gilbride made a revealing comment when Pugh was drafted. He said the staff had been telling the front office for a couple years we need to get some lineman in here. Seems like a big disconnect in team building and where they Giants were between the CS and FO. Gibride went first followed by TC. They lost the battle.
It seems they have (or hopefully had) better people making the investment decisions not that they were simply making the investments.
In other words, the Eagles have hit on their picks while the Giants have swung-and-missed several times.
Quote:
the Giants have invested more in terms of draft picks and FA $$ than the Eagles in that same time frame.
It seems they have (or hopefully had) better people making the investment decisions not that they were simply making the investments.
In other words, the Eagles have hit on their picks while the Giants have swung-and-missed several times.
Exactly, but my point was simply saying it's not that the Eagles have invested draft picks and the Giants haven't, it's that the Eagles did a better job with their player evaluations. Hopefully that changes starting this year.
There are 5 positions on the OL, 5! not 1 5.
You can find starting OL in the later rounds, so its not a waste to force a late pick on an OL if you have missed out on value in the early rounds. Also, There are so many T in college that go to G in NFL, that there is more hit/miss, you can find a diamond in the later rounds.
Just like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play!
The Giants oline from the recent Super Bowl years featured a:
Mid price free agent center who elevated his game to a pro bowl level once on the gmen
A 5th round college left guard that somehow made the transition to above average left tackle
An UDFA right guard
This along with the premium investment in McKenzie and snee
Amazing to think that regime spent less on the oline than the late reese/gettleman years
The irony is that the more top resources the team spent on the OL, the worse it got.
This gets back to the point above that the issue was not lack of desire to improve the line but the ability to judge talent.
With that said, finding Mailata and Kelce in the 7th and 6th rounds, respectively, were absolute steals. No way even Roseman could have ever anticipated that those two players turn into what they are now.
Their line looks a lot different if those two players don't develop. Again, they deserve the credit for the hard work and finding/developing these players, but it shows just how much luck is involved in scouting.
Both Reese and Getts thought they were addressing it, but they really just kept wasting picks and cap dollars.
Add in a little ego and/or putting the onus on the coaches to "coach up" bad talent and the result is the perennial disaster they have been rolling out for over a decade now on the OL...
OL and DL are much easier to find in the later rounds because they develop later and the pool to choose from is much greater for interior OL. Many college Tackles are projected to guard this is why you generally see the trend to draft tackles early because the pool of tackles is much smaller. Most guards are drafted after the 1st round. Many OL are not coached up very well in college or dont have the playing strength for the pros out of college.
The Giants invested in the OL, they just didnt find the right players. They didnt find the right players at a lot of positions in the draft which is why we had no talent.
Now we're lucky if we have former olinemen not casting shade on the org or retiring in the middle of the day in July.
It seems they have (or hopefully had) better people making the investment decisions not that they were simply making the investments.
This is the part that so many seem to ignore. The common BBI refrain that the Giants have ignored the OL is false on its face; the Giants have used a lot of high value draft picks and loads of FA dollars (and cap room) to address the OL. They've just made poor evaluations and the wrong choices on the OL over the years.
The Giants have not ignored the OL. But they probably should have ignored whoever was scouting the OL options that they did draft and/or sign over the years.
QB, DB, LB,WR has been an issue for them going back to the late McNabb/Reid days