Giants' Greg Van Roten wants to keep playing, and he hopes it will be with Big Blue

Greg Van Roten will turn 36 in February, an age when most NFL players are thinking about the end of their careers (if they've made it that far).

He feels as if he's just getting started.

“People like to look at age and point to that and say the cliff is definitely going to come eventually, but I didn’t become a full-time starter in the NFL until I was 28 years old,” the Giants starting guard and Chaminade High School product told Newsday. “This is really only my seventh season starting. Yeah, I am 35, and it looks impressive on paper, but I feel like I still have a lot of ball left in me. We’ll see how the future shakes out.”

That goes for the Giants' entire offensive line. The organization has spent a long time trying to fix that unit, and this season it was one of the team's more stable and productive groups. There was the indestructible Van Roten, who played every offensive snap for the second straight year, along with left tackle  Andrew Thomas, who missed games early and late due to injury; right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, who had a solid season in his contract year; center John Michael Schmitz, who improved upon disappointing early campaigns, and guard John Runyan Jr. The Giants also had some solid depth with rookie Marcus Mbow and Austin Schlottmann getting starts.

Now the challenge for the Giants will be to keep that all-important part of the team improving while weighing who stays and who goes.

“Really, really, really proud of our offensive line,” interim head coach Mike Kafka said. “They took it upon themselves to make it a strong point of our team and of our offense and whenever you have an offensive line that can play like that, you're going to have a lot of production on offense.”

Van Roten, who will be a free agent, said he would like for as many of those pieces to be brought back as possible.

“I think it’s always good to have continuity,” he said. “You could see from last year to this year the steps we took as a group . . .  It’ll be interesting to see what happens as far as free agents and all that stuff, but that happens every year. I’d love to keep the band together, but we’ll see how it works out.”

Added Eluemunor, also due to be a free agent: “I want to hopefully be a part of the transition into greatness here. I feel like I can be a small piece of that. If it's up to me, I'd love to come back. Obviously, things have to work and have to see what happens.”

Eluemunor said he appreciates how much he has been embraced by Giants fans. “I’ve never been shown this much love in my entire career,” he said. Both he and Van Roten spoke about wanting to keep blocking for quarterback Jaxson Dart, too. 

“He just loves to compete,” Van Roten said of Dart. “He is a baller. I love blocking for him and playing with him, and watching his development and growth over the season has been awesome. This is not an easy game, not a simple system to play in. For Jaxson to take the strides he has taken is so impressive. The future is so bright for that kid.”

Van Roten's route in the NFL was far different from Dart’s. Much of Van Roten’s late-blooming career has been spent bouncing around the league — and other leagues. He entered the NFL as an undrafted player out of Penn and appeared in 10 games for the Packers in 2012 and '13. He spent the 2014 training camp in Seattle but was cut and landed with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL for two seasons. In 2017, he was an offseason signing by the Jaguars, got cut and wound up signing with the Panthers as a backup. In 2018, he became a full-time starter with Carolina — another season in which he played every offensive snap — and then got hurt in 2019.

In 2020, he signed a three-year deal with the Jets and started 26 games, but he played only two years there before he was cut. He spent the 2023 season as a starter for the Raiders. In 2024, he signed a one-year deal with the Giants and became a starter in training camp, and he re-signed with the team last offseason.

Van Roten sounds open to a third contract with the Giants, and given his family’s roots here — his wife is from Long Island, they have a home in Long Beach along with a place where they stay in New Jersey during the season, and they have two small children — it is a convenient location for him.

From a Giants perspective, it’s hard to find better value than the two deals they have made with Van Roten, considering he has never missed a play for them. He also is a leader, a fiery competitor (if there is a scuffle on the field in a game, it’s a good bet Van Roten will be in the middle of it) and a capable performer.

“I love playing football,” Van Roten said.

He’s done that for 2,275 straight offensive plays for the Giants over two years. And counting?

“My job is to play, and if I am available, I am going to play,” he said. “I have been available for most of my career. I haven’t missed a game due to injury since 2020. I take a lot of pride in playing and playing at a high level.”

Maybe playing at a high age, too.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.