Even with the seemingly millions of additions that the New York Giants have made in free agency, they still need to flesh out the offensive line. They shockingly brought back both Evan Neal and Joshua Ezeudu, who figure to be depth pieces at best... but maybe they'll be competing for the starting right guard spot -- at this point, who knows?
New York's current options are Jake Kubas and Aaron Stinnie. Outside of them, the G-Men don’t have a ton of depth, and while having a good amount of spot-starter pieces isn't necessarily a bad thing, having an actual starter would be a lot better.
Under new head coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Big Blue's offense will adopt a more punch-you-in-the-mouth-style approach. That'll require an offensive line capable of pushing opposing defenders back and allowing the running backs the space to get to the second level. It’s unclear, and honestly unlikely, that this version of the line can do that.
Enter former Big Blue right guard Kevin Zeitler, who's waiting for Joe Schoen to give him a call and give him another shot to clear rushing lanes for Cam Skattebo and pass-protect for franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Reuniting with Kevin Zeitler would be in the Giants' best interest
According to Spotrac, New York only has $6.3 million in cap space to play with, and Zeitler's market value is around $9 million. It would take some contract restructuring and cap gymnastics for the Giants to bring the 36-year-old back.
Zeitler first arrived in North Jersey back in 2019 after the G-Men sent Olivier Vernon and a fourth-rounder to Cleveland for the guard and a fifth. The idea behind the trade was that Big Blue needed to immediately upgrade its offensive line to strengthen pass-protection and give running back Saquon Barkley a better line to bully opposing defenders into oblivion.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned with Barkley battling injuries during the two years Big Zeit was manning the right guard spot -- a high ankle sprain cost him three games in 2019, and a torn ACL cost him 15 games in 2020. Ahead of 2021's free agency, New York released the lineman to save $14.5 million in cap space.
Second time's the charm.
Skatt's no Barkley, but bringing back Zeitler to head up the ground game initiative Harby's clearly looking to implement would be a smart move. Advanced analytics aren’t everything, and yeah, he’s getting up there in age, but just last season, he played 16 games, recording a 74.5 overall grade from Pro Football Focus (ranking 13th out of 81 eligible guards).
With Zeitler still sitting there in free agency, and the Giants still having a need for a starting right guard, a reunion almost makes too much sense. They could still add another lineman via the draft to sit and learn behind the veteran, but bringing this hero back to Gotham would give them a real answer right now. Do it.