When you look at the overall roster of the New York Giants heading into the 2025 season, the focus heading into training camp has been about the defense and especially the pass rush. Some could see that as the strong point of the team.
So, if the Giants' pass rush is the strong suit of the team, what would be considered the weak point of the team? Last year, many thought it was the quarterback room, but the Giants made massive changes to it, and some would feel it is vastly improved from what we saw of it a year ago. Some might even consider the secondary as a weakness for the Giants, but Joe Schoen spent a lot of free-agent money to make improvements to the unit, so it shouldn’t be the same weakness as it once was.
But what about the offensive line? Josh Edwards of CBS Sports listed all 32 team’s weaknesses heading into the 2025 season, and pointed out the Giants' offensive line as the biggest need to fix, and ultimately, the team’s biggest weakness on the team.
“Time will tell if New York made the correct decision to trade up for Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, but to its credit, the team had a conviction and made the move up the board. As far as the offensive line is concerned, who is a part of the long-term vision aside from Andrew Thomas and, perhaps, John Michael Schmitz? The group should be better when completely healthy, but the sample size has not been large enough to prove that theory. Linebacker and cornerback come to mind next.”
Will the real Giants offensive line please stand up
Last season, New York's O-line improved from the unit we saw back in 2023, a unit that had 85 total sacks on Giants quarterbacks. They surrendered 48 sacks in 2024, 32 of which were the fault of the line, according to Pro Football Focus. Before the Giants lost Thomas to a season-ending foot injury, the Giants had improved from the 30th-ranked offensive line to the 18th-ranked offensive line. Despite the struggles, PFF had the Giants finishing at No. 23, which was their highest ranking since the 2019 season.
While it is improved, there are still question marks surrounding the unit, with Thomas’ health as one of the biggest ones, considering he’s missed 18 total games since the 2023 season. On top of Thomas’ health, the Giants are also paying Thomas to be a top-tier tackle, which he is when he’s healthy. But Thomas hasn’t been fully healthy since the 2022 season, so they're hoping and banking on their best lineman to stay healthy, because if he isn’t, it causes a problem.
The 2025 season is a bit of a crucial one for Schmitz, as he’s entering his third season and one where the Giants could really afford him to turn the corner as far as his play goes. He was considered one of the top centers in the 2023 NFL Draft, and people were elated when the 26-year-old fell into the Giants' laps in the second round, but so far, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for his tenure. The center taking the next step would go a long way toward stabilizing the Giants' offensive line for the present and for the near future.
The three other members of the starting unit are veterans, and you have to wonder if they are seen as future fixtures for the line. There’s Jermaine Eluemunor, who was the second-best lineman on the team last year. He stabilized the right tackle position, but because of Thomas’ injury, he ended up shifting over to left tackle. Eluemunor is also 30 years old and in the final year of the two-year deal he signed last off-season. Whether the Giants re-sign him or let him walk as a free agent remains to be seen.
The two guards are also veterans as well with Jon Runyan as the left guard and Greg Van Roten as the right guard. Runyan is coming up to the second year of a three-year deal he signed in free agency, but he really didn’t perform to the levels that were expected with his contract. Runyan is also a potential salary cap casualty for next offseason, as it’ll only be a $2.5 million dead cap hit to cut him, and it’ll be a $9.25 million savings on the salary cap. Unless Runyan drastically improves, cutting him makes too much sense in the offseason.
That leaves Van Roten, who is back on a second one-year deal. The G-Men explored an upgrade when they pursued Will Fries, but they lost out on him when he ended up signing a deal with the Minnesota Vikings. So, Van Roten re-signed for another season. He is 35 years old and has been a full-time starter in the league since 2018 for several different teams. He still has value because he’s not only a solid guard, but he’s also a decent center, and can step in for Schmitz if needed due to injury, which he did last season.
Then there are the two “X-factors,” or really unknowns of the offensive line. One of which is fifth-round rookie lineman Marcus Mbow, who has gotten reps right tackle, while also working at different parts of the line, too. One spot in particular, was left tackle. Whether Mbow is actually needed or not during his rookie season remains to be seen, especially if the injury bug hits again.
The other is Evan Neal, who has finally made the transition from tackle to guard and, so far, has impressed the coaching staff and others watching him. Some wonder if Neal could end up beating out one of the veteran guards for a starting spot during training camp and the preseason. Given his struggles at right tackle, Neal making the turnaround to become a starting guard would be a major accomplishment. It would also mark a significant shift, as the Giants have already declined his fifth-year option—meaning they’re one step away from moving on from their former first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Add all of this up, and there are still some question marks for the unit being asked to protect Russell Wilson for now—and maybe eventually Jaxson Dart. If the group we saw in the first month of last season shows up and stays healthy, there’s real potential, because that unit held up even with the poor quarterback play of Daniel Jones. But nobody can fully prepare for or predict injuries, so the Giants will need to be ready for anything and everything.
Although it might be a moral victory that the Giants aren’t heading into the season as one of the bottom offensive line units in the league—like they had been for the last four years—they still need to continue showing improvement and progression up front if they want to have any kind of success in 2025.