Giants' Shane Lemieux excited about practicing again after knee, toe injuries
New York Giants offensive guard Shane Lemieux (66) looks on in action during a game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants on September 20, 2020 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. Credit: AP/Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire
Shane Lemieux isn’t a starting offensive lineman.
He’s a starting-over offensive lineman.
Both this season and last, he came into Giants training camp penciled in as the left guard, only to have his name swiftly erased from that position because of injury.
In 2021, a partial tear of a patellar tendon suffered on the third day of practice wound up costing him all but the smallest portion of the season. He tried to tough his way through the pain in the season opener but could get through only 17 snaps before tapping out at halftime.
This summer, after triumphantly coming back from that surgery, he made it a little further before he got hurt: all the way to the first drive of the preseason opener in New England before a toe injury brought him down. He began the regular season on injured reserve.
Lemieux hasn’t finished a game of any kind since the 2020 season finale in his rookie year. But this week, he was able to do something he hadn’t done since then: He was on the field for a midseason practice.
It was only with the scout team, lining up to give the defense a look at what the Texans might be throwing at them this Sunday, but for Lemieux, it was exhilarating.
The Giants designated him to return from injured reserve and have another two weeks to add him to the active roster, but just being out there with the team in the most limited of capacities seemed like a victory.
“It feels good,” he told Newsday. “It’s just getting back in the groove of things again. Just getting my feet under me. It’s just good to be around the guys. It’s been a long time.”
So much so that it’s easy to forget how promising Lemieux was as a rookie when he took over the starting job. Will Hernandez was sidelined with COVID and Lemieux filled in for him, but when Hernandez was cleared, Lemieux kept playing.
He and left tackle Andrew Thomas were drafted in the same season and were supposed to develop together. Thomas has become one of the league’s top players at his position. Lemieux? No one really knows what he can become because he’s been injured too often to fulfill any potential.
Now, though, he’s not.
“He’s battled some injuries, but he’s a great player,” running back Saquon Barkley said. “He definitely can be a help to this team. We know that. It’s just great to see him getting back out there, taking some reps. I’m excited for him.”
Unlike last year’s injury, which Lemieux knew right away was serious, this year’s malady was surprisingly difficult to overcome. Lemieux, who prides himself on his toughness, said he could not wrap his mind around the idea of something with the silly name of “turf toe” causing him so much trouble.
“It was kind of a weird thing,” he said. “It didn’t set in until surgery that this was a serious deal. Even right before the surgery, I was like: ‘There’s no way. It’s impossible.’ ”
Into the operating room he went, though, and out he came with a nasty scar on the inside of his foot and several weeks of healing ahead of him. Most of it was done behind the closed doors of the training room until this week, when Lemieux was back on the field.
He isn’t the first lineman headed back from a long stint on the sideline. Just before the bye, Nick Gates returned from a lower left leg fracture suffered in Week 2 of the 2021 season, one that required several surgeries and nearly cost him his career. He was able to get on the field for the game against Seattle just before the bye week and even threw a key block as a sixth lineman on Barkley’s touchdown run on his first snap.
It was an emotional play for Gates. Whenever Lemieux gets his chance, it’s sure to be as special.
It’s not clear where Lemieux will wind up once he is activated and can play. That left guard job he left vacant in the summer still is far from solidified. The Giants had Ben Bredeson and rookie Joshua Ezeudu rotating there in the immediate aftermath of Lemieux’s toe injury. Bredeson seemed to earn the role outright but then suffered a knee injury that put him on injured reserve. Ezeudu has played most of the past two games and figures to start there on Sunday.
Lemieux said he isn’t concerned about where he lines up. He just wants in.
“Whatever they need from me, man,” he said. “Wherever they need me, I’ll fill in. Whatever role, I just want to help the unit and help us win some more games. It’s just more hands on the job.”
If the last two years have taught Lemieux anything, it’s that having expectations in football is a foolish pursuit. Too many things can go awry to foil those plans.
Too many things already have.
“I don’t want to predict anything,” he said. “Right now I’m just trying to get in my pass set, get in my stance again, move around. Hopefully I’m feeling great enough so if they ask me to do a job, I’ll be able to do it.”
When such a time comes, wherever it comes, Lemieux will give it his all.
That, the Giants know, they can put in ink.
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.
