New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen has vowed to fix and build the team’s offensive line into one of the league’s best. Through three offseasons, he’s made major changes but the line continues to tread water.
Injuries have had a lot to do with that along with several players underperforming and slow to develop.
With over $50 million in available salary cap space to operate with, Schoen is expected to keep plugging away at the line, using every avenue available to him to finally get this unit right.
Zoltan Buday of Pro Football Focus believes the Giants could be interested in Indianapolis Colts guard Will Fries in free agency next month.
Fries has steadily improved over his four seasons in Indianapolis, earning a higher PFF overall grade each year. Though an injury cut his 2024 season short, he showed significant progress early on. Over the first five weeks, his 86.9 PFF overall grade would have ranked third among guards if he had played enough snaps to qualify, while his 84.9 PFF run-blocking grade was among the best at the position.
Fries, a Staten Island native who played his college ball at Penn State, was a seventh-round draft pick of the Colts back in 2021 and has played in 37 NFL games, starting 27.
The 6-foot-6, 305-pound Fries started every game in 2023 but was limited to five games last season after suffering a fractured right tibia in Week 5.
Buday sees Fries as a fit for the Giants with left tackle Andrew Thomas returning from injury and center John Michael Schmitz settling in as the anchor.
But Buday also pointed out that Evan Neal showed “promise” at right tackle, which many of us closer to the team know is a fallacy. The Giants are actually on the verge of possibly moving Neal to guard as his development has stagnated the past year.
Buday is also forgetting the Giants’ commitment to the two free agent guards they signed last March (Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan Jr.) and second-year guard Jake Kubas, who they are high on.
It would appear that Schoen would more likely explore tackle options this offseason with Thomas losing back-to-back seasons to injuries and Neal still struggling in his role.
