Joe Sean of the Giants is the envy of teams with healthy offensive lines

The New York Giants thought their offensive line woes were behind them as they entered the 2024 regular season.

General manager Joe Sean added two key free agents (Jermaine Eluemunor and John Runyan Jr.) to mix with his young core of shortstops Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal and center John Michael Schmitz, and optimism was high.

“I felt really good the first six weeks and when AT left, he … There are certain players on your roster that are hard to replace, and I would put him in that category,” Schoen said this week.

“So when we rolled with those six guys, I felt good about it. We’ve made a lot of progress in terms of sacks, I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I think we’ve cut it in half or close to half from a year ago. So I felt good about the attacking line-up up until this point.”

Then the wheels came off. The line gradually fell apart, and by the end of the season the Giants had used 10 different combinations along the line of scrimmage, the most in the NFL this season and matching last year’s shooting system.

Only one lineman — 34-year-old Greg Van Roten, who was signed in training camp — has played all 1,125 snaps this year. Schmitz (87.7 percent) and Elyumunor (82.3 percent) were next, but the tackle positions were once again a revolving door.

Thomas played in just six games this season before being sidelined for the season by an injury to Lisfranc. Neil was the opposite. He missed the first half of the season for several reasons. He was coming back from surgery to repair a broken ankle last January, and the team was more compatible with Eluemunor at right tackle, who finished camp.

Neal only took the field after the Giants moved Eluemunor to left wing in place of Thomas. His play has been so uninspiring that there is talk that maybe he should be moved inside to guard.

Shen does not lose heart. He will continue to tweak and grow the line. He has many other problems to worry about. He needs a linebacker and his help, especially at cornerback, has been inconsistent. The line may not get the last significant boost it needs.

Nevertheless, failure is the real reason for constant failures of the unit. They cannot stay healthy. They were healthy in 2022, and look what happened. The Giants made the playoffs.

“Hopefully one of these years the injury gods will take care of us and we can be healthy for the rest of the season,” Schoen added. “You watch these games on Sundays, late in December, and you look at these offensive lines, you think, ‘Oh my God, that’s their starting five.’ It would be nice to have in December.

“Again, that will always be a priority for us moving forward. Last year 2023 was difficult the way we played. That was part of the offseason priority this year. I like the back four we have coming back and the depth and competition we’re going to have.”

Don’t be surprised if Schoen continues to pursue this area in both the draft and free agency this offseason.