One of the biggest roster questions for the New York Giants going into this season is who is going to play right tackle. Since Dave Gettleman took the reins as general manager and hired Pat Shurmur as his head coach, the Giants have been methodically rebuilding their offensive line. All that’s left to be done is to find a steady player at right tackle.
Right tackle, for the moment, is held by Chad Wheeler, ranked No. 78 at his position by Pro Football Focus. Offensive coordinator Mike Shula spoke about the current state of the position during his presser on Wednesday.
“I mean I can only speak for the guys that are on the team,” said Shula. “The other questions are for Dave and Pat. I think Wheels has done a really good job this offseason with our exposure with him. Again, I have only been around him for a year, but I think there is a big difference even with him and his approach. I think he, along with a lot of other guys, got better as the year went on.
“We all know that we were nowhere near good enough early in the year. We did a lot of good things even though it wasn’t good enough at the end of the year, but we were really, really close and trending in the right direction. He was one of those guys that falls in that category.”
Offensive line coach Hal Hunter has been given a few players this offseason to coach up to try to unseat Wheeler: seventh round draft pick George Asafo-Adjei of Kentucky and Paul Adams, a undrafted free agent out of Missouri. He was asked about what his plan was at right tackle going into minicamp and training camp.
“I don’t really know what’s going to transpire from here on out. I know the people we have signed right now are under contract. So right now, my plan is for George (Asafo-Adjei) to line up at second right tackle when he comes back and go from there,” Hunter said. “The one thing that we talked about and we talked about in our room all the time is the best players are going to play. Who are the best players? They are the players that play the best.”
But don’t expect the Giants to make a change for the sake of making a change. Wheeler may show enough improvement to stave off all comers, including any free agent the Giants sign such as Mike Remmers.
“Right now, Chad (Wheeler) is starting off at right tackle and it is up to him to hold that position,” said Hunter. “It is up to everyone else to beat him out. I have told everyone, it is my job to make you the best player you can possibly be and then it is my job to get him to beat you out.”
