Transcript: Offensive Lineman Greg Van Roten

Offensive Lineman Greg Van Roten

Q: How does it feel to be back?

GREG VAN ROTEN: It's good. I'm happy to be back in the Northeast, close to home. Excited to be a part of this organization and add value where I can.

Q: Can you tell us how this came about?

GREG VAN ROTEN: Yeah, they called a few weeks before training camp, said there was interest. We're just trying to hammer out like the finer details and then reach an agreement. Obviously, I think it was Monday night and I was here Tuesday afternoon. Nothing exciting, just kind of figuring out contract.

Q: Can you talk about (Offensive Line Coach) Carmen Bricillo and (tackle) Jermaine Eluemunor and what kind of coach he is?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I had my best year of my career with Carm (Carmen Bricillo). So happy to be back around him. He's a great like X's and O's coach, really does a good job of marrying like the run game with the pass game schematically. So, you're never at a disadvantage as an offensive lineman so it's a good system to play in. He does a really good job communicating like the expectations. Obviously, him being here, Jermaine (Eluemunor) being here, familiarity, a little bit, with the system it just felt like a natural fit for me.

Q: What spot do you feel most comfortable? You obviously played right last year, but you've bounced around several times.

GREG VAN ROTEN: Yeah, I played right most recently. I started a bunch of games left guard early in my career. When I was a rookie, actually I started to learn center back then. I just never happened to play in a game until 2022 at center. So, I've started at all three positions inside. That's why I have that value, is my versatility. It's just one of those things where you could put me in anywhere and I can kind of figure it out. I think that's a big reason why I'm here.

Q: You're joining a team that gave up 85 sacks last year, no matter how they happened. What is your take on that and how much you can help solve some of that?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I think like a big reason (Offensive Line Coach) Carm (Carmen Bricillo) is here is because of that problem. I don't know how many sacks we gave up in Vegas last year, but we didn't have nearly as mobile a quarterback as Daniel (Jones) is. So, hopefully that'll help a little bit and then just with kind of making tweaks to technique and system and you want to stay out of those obvious pass situations and you want to try and not be playing from behind. So, if you can control games and you can kind of dictate how you want to run plays like you'll be in a much better situation as a team and position as an offensive line.

Q: You mentioned (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) what is your initial impression of Daniel Jones?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I met Daniel a few years ago, actually. He's from Charlotte. I was with the Panthers for a few years. So, I've been around him a little bit and, you know, I'm excited to be his teammate. And he's really tall (laughs). That struck me. But he's a hell of a player. I'm excited to be around him and help the team.

Q: What makes (Offensive Line Coach) Carm (Carmen Bricillo) a good coach?

GREG VAN ROTEN: Not a lot of coaches are as in tune to the rest of the offense as he is when it comes to like how the run game fits. How you formation things, the motions and stuff. There's no run play that when we line up in the formation that you know, 'That's a run.' You can do multiple things that might be a play action that might be a shot play or screen or something like that. If you're a defense, you can't just be like, 'All right, they're in this formation, they're going to run this play.' So, he does a good job of making sure that we're in good positions and at an advantage.

Q: Does that come from his time in meetings, his time studying?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I think it's the years in the system. It takes a long time to learn any offense, specifically this one. It's not easy. There's a lot of like checks, different ways to like get out of things or get into things that you like. Understanding the flexibility of it and Carm's (Carmen Bricillo) ability to dissect things and make sure like we're never going to do anything that is really hard for us to do and like we can't do it. We're going to be in positions of success.

Q: How much football do you typically need to play to get in football shape?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I mean, today was a hot one. I've been working out, I'm in shape. Football shape's a little bit different. I think the science says like 20 full speed game reps, maybe. But you got to be in shape to do that. I'm going to take advantage of my time here in training camp to get myself into football shape.

Q: A day like today where they put you in for two and take you out, would you rather be in and get it going or do you like being out?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I'm not going to complain about reps off, especially at my advanced age for this sport. But they were taking care of me today on a little bit of a pitch count because everyone else ramped up to get to this point and I just got here yesterday. So, they're making sure that I'm not just going too hard, too fast.

Q: You mentioned your advanced age, joking…

GREG VAN ROTEN: Tongue in cheek, yes.

Q: Take us through the process a little, back when the season ended. You had your best season of your career, what was your mindset? Were you looking to get offers right away in March? Did you want to take your time and wait for the right fit?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I think it was a combination of things. I had my first child at the end of December. And we're from Long Island, so we wanted to get back home. We had offers at the beginning of free agency, but nothing really exciting or worth moving across the country again. So, we were going to be a little patient and kind of selective and I was very happy that the Giants were in the mix and so was my wife and her family and my family. It was just one of those things where I've played a lot of football, I can still play at a high level, so I didn't want to just jump at the first opportunity because it was the first opportunity. I wanted to kind of see what was out there and let things fall into place.

Q: But you we're (planning on) playing?

GREG VAN ROTEN: Oh, yeah.

Q: It wasn't one of those things where someone had to convince you?

GREG VAN ROTEN: I got a few years left in me. We'll see how this year goes and then hopefully stack a few more.