The NY Giants are the ultimate underdogs heading into the 2020 season

To be successful, dynamic NY Giants offense will need to put up points in bunches

With so many reasons to be optimistic about the NY Giants’ offense this season, where should we begin to start?

This unit has speed, talent, star power, and a fresh offensive line. Even the NFL Network Analyst, Daniel Jeremiah placed a spotlight on the Big Blue offensive unit for having the fastest offensive group league-wide.

Via Twitter:

2020 will also showcase Daniel Jones’ sophomore year as the NY Giants’ QB, and the “Duke of New York” is looking to build off an impressive rookie season that saw some very promising moments.

Some key talent traits that fans – and doubters -need to recognize are Jones’ ability to process the field once that ball is snapped. This means how fast he can read the field, make adjustments, and understand where he’s going with the football on the fly.

ESPN’s NY Giants reporter, Jordan Raanan, recently reported that Daniel Jones put on 8-9 pounds of muscle in his second offseason as a pro which is an impressive accomplishment that should help with the fumbling issues some.

In the NFL, this is the part that makes a quarterback elite. For Jones, this trait is more important to his development than arm strength, which his 3,027 passing yards and 24 TDs (two off the rookie record despite only starting 12 games) last season already highlighted.

In fact, the teams’ underrated receiver pool will also contribute to Jones’ continued success under center, and may even lead to a 4,000+ plus yard season with even more TDs spread around the offense.

Shifting gears to the NY Giants’ new offensive line, it’s important to remind fans that the O-line sets the tone for the rest of the offense. In retrospect, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to the Big Blue faithful that the team’s lackluster O-lines of the past were mostly to blame for their recent string of bleak seasons and had much to do with Jones’ fumbling issues in 2019.

Their starting 2019 Offensive Line featured from left to right: LT Nate Solder, LG Will Hernandez, C Jon Halapio, RG Kevin Zeitler, and RT Mike Remmers. Their combined totals were completely lackluster; ranked 17th overall according to PFF Football News & Analysis; allowed a total of 38 sacks on Daniel Jones who consequently fumbled the football 18 times with 11 of them being for a loss.

The run blocking was even worse, and Solder, in particular, was a killer for the NY Giants as he was the worst left tackle in football, failing to protect his rookie’s blindside miserably. Solder allowed the most pressures in the entire NFL and the second-most sacks.

Imagine being a rookie QB trying to adjust to the speed of the game and all the new responsibilities that come with being an NFL signal-caller and you’ve got to worry about being blasted from your blindside every other play; it starts to explain why Jones had so much trouble holding onto the football.

However, these figures underline room for improvement should the new O-line hold up for Jones and he also learns to protect the football.

Following their 2020 draft, their offensive line had several new injections of fresh blood including Georgia OT Andrew Thomas (4th overall selection), UConn OT Matt Peart (99th overall selection), Oregon G Shane Lemieux (150th overall selection), and the team already had young, versatile lineman Nick Gates who could even see some action at center this season as he continues to develop.

This means that in 2020, the line will look practically brand new: LT Andrew Thomas, LG Will Hernandez, C Shane Lemieux, RG Kevin Zeitler, and likely Nick Gates (depending hon how the center competition shakes out) at RT with rookie Matt Peart and veteran Cameron Fleming waiting in the wings in what surely will be an open competition.

Nick Gates showed so much promise in his spot starts in 2019 that the team decided to use some forward-thinking and lock him up to a team-friendly contract extension earlier this week.

Here are the details courtesy of Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network

Although Lemieux may start right away, Gates has a great chance to make the starting line this season after signing his two-year extension. The 6’6, 310 lb lineman will certainly be given a chance to perform.

For the sake of the team, I hope he succeeds.

Plus, with Nate Solder opting out of the 2020 season, it looks like the rookies from this draft will certainly be given more of the workload as well as the opportunity to perform.

Most importantly Andrew Thomas will now get to work from the left tackle position to open up his career.

The upgrade he’ll provide in the running game over Nate Solder alone should be enough to get Saquon Barkley back into his 2018 form.