4 free agents NY Giants GM Joe Schoen must call with Darren Waller retiring

3. OL Nick Gates

Many fans will remember Nick Gates for his services just a couple of years ago for the Giants. Most notably, how he suffered a gruesome injury against the Commanders, yet fought back and returned to play just a year later and still performed well. However, last offseason, Gates left New York and signed with the team he suffered said injury against.

While his time in Washington didn't go as planned, a reunion between Gates and New York could benefit both sides. Currently, the Giants' backup center is Austin Schlottman, who has performed rather poorly during his time in the NFL. So, bringing in a veteran with more experience could serve New York well.

Even if the Giants don't plan on putting Gates at center, he has experience at just about every other position on the line. Given the teams' history of injuries up front, this versatility could prove to be very useful.

This is without mentioning that Gates was still solid with Washington - he was most likely released for cap space reasons. Through 455 pass-blocking snaps, the veteran allowed five sacks and 21 pressures. In the long term, these numbers aren't great, but as a plug-in backup veteran, Gates would make sense for the G-Men.