NY Giants Mock Draft: Joe Schoen pulls off 2 first-round trades in wild turn of events
By Doug Rush
NY Giants fifth-round pick: Michigan offensive lineman Zak Zinter
If you have spotted a theme, it’s a lot of players who were already taken in previous mock drafts that are appearing again, and that’s the case with Zak Zinter, who we’ve selected multiple times. The Giants spent a lot of their focus in free agency on revamping and overhauling the offensive line. They signed Jon Runyan Jr. from the Green Bay Packers, who will occupy one of the two guard spots.
They also signed Aaron Stinnie from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who started 11 of 13 games at guard in 2023. They also signed Jermaine Eluemunor, who could play either guard or tackle, depending on what happens with Evan Neal, who might still be expected to play right tackle in 2024.
However, counting on Neal to play an important role again is asking a lot right now, and the Giants drafting someone like Zinter to help rebuild an offensive line that surrendered 85 total sacks is imperative.
One of the boldest moves the Giants made in the offseason was replacing Bobby Johnson as the offensive line coach with Carmen Bricillo, who produced tremendous results over the last two seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Whether Zinter starts Week 1 or ends up sitting and learning depends on who makes the most progress coming out of training camp under Bricillo, but Zinter could be a potential force to be dealt with and a future cog in the middle of the line that prevents another disastrous season on the offensive line for the Giants like we all saw in 2023.