John Michael Schmitz has been the New York Giants' starting center for the better part of the last four years, but they've never had a reason to move on from him. Until now. With John Harbaugh coming in, it was no longer about how high he was drafted, but what he could do on the field, which wasn't up to par.
Despite being one of the better center prospects in recent memory, Schmitz has consistently been a disappointment when he's not injured. He started 44 games across his first three seasons and never came close to his pre-draft potential. JMS surrendered 72 pressures from 2023 to 2025 and 11 sacks across his first two years.
Big Blue gave him every chance to prove himself as their franchise center after drafting him in the second round of the 2023 Draft out of Minnesota, yet he never did. They finally gave up on this experiment by benching Schmitz for Bryan Hudson prior to Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals.
Ever since taking over the starting job, Hudson has run away with it.
He allowed zero pressures on 32 pass-blocking snaps in Week 4, so he again got the start in Week 5, where his impressive play continued, as he's elevating this offensive line in the eyes of Pro Football Focus' Gordon McGuiness, as he moved the Giants up three spots (from 20 to 17) in his latest OL power rankings.
"The Giants benched John Michael Schmitz Jr. ahead of Week 4, with Bryan Hudson replacing him in the starting lineup," McGuiness wrote. "The move has paid off so far, with Hudson notching PFF grades above 70.0 in both starts. Hudson has allowed just one pressure from 102 pass-blocking snaps, producing a 96.8% PFF pass-block win rate across those two starts."
And frankly, I don't think we ever saw John Michael Schmitz making this sort of impact on the entire OL.
Bryan Hudson has the New York Giants' offensive line trending in the right direction
PFF's grades and data may not always be accurate, but even they can't deny a trend practically every Giants fan has seen: Bryan Hudson has been a whole lot better than John Michael Schmitz and deserves to be the starting center until further notice. Just look at the numbers gap between them.
In 102 pass-blocking snaps this season, Hudson has surrendered just one pressure and logged PFF grades above 70 in both of his starts. Moreover, his 78.3 pass block grade is second to Erik McCoy among qualified centers, while his 75.5 PFF grade is third behind Luke Wypler and Juice Scruggs.
And it's not like he's some liability as a run blocker either. While New York's run game hasn't come alive much this season, the 25-year-old's 72.3 run blocking grade is eighth among all centers. Hudson has been a revelation on the offensive line and probably our best center since Weston Richburg.
Meanwhile, Schmitz is a bottom-three center in every PFF metric. His 45.7 overall grade is 33rd out of 34 qualified centers, and his 42.3 pass-blocking grade and 49.7 run blocking grade are both 31st out of 34. Just off of all of this, I think it's pretty evident to see which center the Giants should be starting.
It is such a nice feeling knowing Harbs is willing to make the "tough" choice and start the more deserving player regardless of how much the G-Men invested in them. Because it doesn't matter that John Michael Schmitz was an All-American when Bryan Hudson, a 2024 UDFA, has been far better.
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