It’s hard to talk about the state of the New York Giants’ offensive line without circling back to all the ways it’s been mismanaged over the years—there have been plenty. The names change, but the problems don’t. And even when the team manages to land a high draft pick at a premium position, it has rarely stuck. Fun times.
Will Hernandez, like several others, was supposed to be one of the exceptions. The Giants took him 34th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft out of UTEP with every intention of building around him. He started 49 straight games in college and posted some of the best strength numbers at the NFL Combine. The early returns were promising—he started all 16 games at left guard as a rookie and made the PFWA All-Rookie Team. But things only went downhill from there.
Coaching turnover, shifting schemes, position changes, and a midseason battle with COVID-19 derailed his momentum. By the end of 2021, he was moved to right guard, giving up sacks and committing penalties at a rate that forced Big Blue to move on. That should’ve been the end of his story. But it wasn’t.
A return to New York might actually work for Will Hernandez... and the Giants
Hernandez quietly played his best football after leaving New York. The Arizona Cardinals gave him a clean slate and a stable role at right guard. In 2023, he played over 1,100 snaps and allowed just four sacks. Since 2022, his pass-blocking grade ranks among the top 10 guards in the league, per Pro Football Focus.
And he was off to another strong start in 2024 before a torn ACL shut things down five weeks in.
The injury is absolutely why he’s still on the market heading into training camp. It’s not about lack of talent or scheme fit. It’s a health question, and the risk is baked into his potential price point. If the G-Men are looking for affordable competition at right guard—and they should be—this is exactly the type of flyer worth gambling on.
There’s no clear succession plan at right guard, and depth remains thin across the interior. Signing Hernandez doesn’t change the future of the franchise, but it gives them a known guy who’s shown he can still hold up in pass protection, assuming his knee checks out.
He’s not the same player he was during that four-year stretch in New York. The tape in Arizona proves that. But don't get it twisted, the fact that he’s still unsigned in late July has more to do with bad timing than ability. And if he ends up signing somewhere else and playing meaningful snaps, nobody should be surprised. This guy's an NFL player. It's only a matter of time before he's back on a team.
There’s a little nostalgia baked into this, for sure. But it also makes football sense. New York needs help up front, and Hernandez is expected to be healthy by Week 1. That’s more than enough reason to explore a reunion. Tossing him a training camp invitation feels like the least they could do.