Giants liking the look of revamped offensive line
Evan Neal (70) looks on at New York Giants rookie minicamp, Friday, May 13, 2022, in East Rutherford. Credit: Corey Sipkin
Shane Lemieux left his helmet and gloves near the field after a recent OTA workout and walked over to fetch them himself. It’s the kind of thing a veteran lineman might normally send a rookie to do for him as part of an initiation into the NFL. Lemieux, however, said he is not that kind of guy.
Besides, he added, “have you seen the size of our rookie?”
He was talking about Evan Neal. The 6-foot-7-inch 350 pound first-round draft pick and projected starting right tackle, may not be the tallest or the heaviest, but certainly is the largest player on the roster. Already his fellow Giants have learned not to mess with someone so powerful.
And they haven’t even gotten into full pads to actually start hitting each other yet.
“He’s just dominant,” right guard Mark Glowinski said of his new wingman. “As long as he gets his hands on guys, that's the end of the story.”
That’s exactly the kind of personality the Giants are trying to elicit from their rebuilt offensive line.
“We brought in guys that are feisty, hungry guys that want to win and want to play hard,” Glowinski said. “That's part of the game. That's the way you want it. You want smart guys, and you also want guys that want to dominate and be aggressive and finish and do all the things that it takes to score points, win games.”
Glowinski and fellow free-agent acquisition, center Jon Feliciano who is affectionately called “Dirtbag” by his coaches and teammates, certainly fit that mold. So does Lemieux who, before he partially tore his patellar tendon last summer, was poised to have a strong second season for the Giants and is now back on the field. Andrew Thomas is still recovering from offseason ankle surgery but figures to be the lone returning starter on the line at left tackle when the season begins.
Throw in Neal and the unit finds itself with something it hasn’t had in quite some time: Legitimate optimism.
“We just have to make sure that we keep everybody going,” Glowinski said. “We're doing our best to learn one another, compete with one another, jell as much as we can, spend as much time as we can in the lunch and breakfast room and everything. We just want to understand one another, but we have young talent, and we also have older guys that we’ve come across one another in the past, so we understand those guys.”
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.
More Giants
