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NY Giants appear close to making OL move everyone has been begging for

Could the NY Giants end up signing Justin Pugh this week?
Zak Musso
Zak Musso

GMEN HQ

Aug 14, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; New York Giants tackle Justin Pugh (67) in a preseason NFL / Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

It's well-documented how much the NY Giants offensive line has struggled over the last decade. Those struggles have continued in 2023. The Giants offensive line allowed seven sacks in the Week 1 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and then allowed another three in the Week 2 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

After the rough start, Brian Daboll made some major changes up front. With Andrew Thomas out due to injury, Daboll inserted Josh Ezeudu at left tackle and benched right guard Mark Glowinski for Marcus McKethan in Week 2. Neither McKethan nor Ezeudu had taken a snap in their NFL career at the position they started at last Sunday.

While both had strong performances, the Giants need offensive line help, especially with the recent injuries of Thomas and left guard Ben Bredeson. It appears they could be adding some help soon in the form of Justin Pugh, a former first-round pick.

NY Giants worked out former first-round pick Justin Pugh

Pugh was selected by Big Blue in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Syracuse, and played with the team from 2013-2017. Pugh, now 33, played the last five seasons with Arizona.

Pugh tore his ACL last season, but if his workout is any indication, he seems to be recovered. He is still capable of playing starter level football, something the rest of the Giants guards may not be able to do. The ex-Giant struggled a bit in 2022, but was given a 77.7 pass blocking grade by PFF in 2021, a quality starter grade.

In 2020, Pugh received an 74.4 pass blocking grade and in 2019 had an 82.2. The Giants offensive line has been a solid run blocking unit, but struggled mighitly in pass protection, something Pugh excels in.

It's up to you now Joe Schoen. Go get Daniel Jones some much needed pass protection. There's no question that fans would be all for a signing going down.

Zak Musso

Zak Musso

Zak Musso has been with FanSided since 2022, writing about the New York Mets and New York Giants. Musso is the current site editor of FanSided's Brooklyn Nets page, Nothin' But Nets. Outside of his FanSided work, Musso is currently a writer at SportsNet New York (SNY), where he covers the New York Giants. Zak also had a prior stop at Yardbarker, where he covered the Knicks, Nets, Mets, Yankees, Giants, and Jets before moving to the AL East beat. Musso graduated from Marist College in May 2023 after spending three years studying sports communication and journalism. In college, Musso was the producer and director of Marist's two sports TV shows, the Red Fox Report and Halftime on the Hudson, and wrote for Center Field, Marist's sports newspaper. He also served as the voice of Marist Baseball and was a play-by-play broadcaster for various athletic events on ESPN+ and the Red Fox Network.