The New York Giants’ front office and new coaching staff have been very busy this offseason, molding the roster to fit their vision.
Almost every unit was upgraded and/or tweaked, but they fell short of improving on the one position they wanted to: Center. They wanted to reunite head coach John Harbaugh with free-agent Tyler Linderbaum, his three-time Pro Bowl center over the past few seasons in Baltimore.
It wasn’t meant to be, as the Las Vegas Raiders blew the Giants — and everyone else — out of the water by inking Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million contract with $60 million in guarantees and a $20 million signing bonus.
So, the Giants went with Plan B, which was to put their 2023 second-round draft pick, John Michael Schmitz, back out there for another season with some veteran competition on the roster to push him in camp.
Matt Okada of NFL.com believes center to be the Giants’ biggest roster issue as they head into training camp later this month.
Joe Schoen, John Harbaugh and Co. did an excellent job patching up Big Blue’s holes this offseason, even securing a couple viable options to help fill the void left by Dexter Lawrence on the defensive interior. The area of concern for me is center, where John Michael Schmitz remains the projected starter. Schmitz surrendered five sacks and 23 QB pressures last year, per Next Gen Stats, and was also subpar in the run game. Unless he makes a surprise fourth-year jump, he might be a liability in Harbaugh’s new offense.
The Giants want to dominate in the trenches on both sides of the football, aka The Harbaugh Way, and JMS isn’t what they had in mind to be at the center on offense. They prefer a player who has both size and athleticism, since they will be required to pull in many formations.
Schmitz won’t likely face much competition from the other centers on the roster (Lucas Patrick, Bryan Hudson) for the starting role, but he’ll still be required to improve upon his first lukewarm three seasons with the club. He will have to if he expects the Giants to extend his contract beyond this season.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: What is the New York Giants’ biggest remaining roster issue?
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Fennelly, Giants Wire | USA TODAY Network
