For roughly the final five years of Eli Manning’s career, he had to deal with subpar pass protection, which many attributed to the the lack of success in the latter part of his career.
During the back-end of Manning’s career, the New York Giants had everything on the offensive line including draft busts (Ereck Flowers), failed experiments (Patrick Ohmameh) and even had a few starts from a waiver claim (Jamon Brown). All in all, it was a bunch of band-aid-type fixes instead of investing in more long-term solutions.
Now, in the first offseason following Manning’s retirement, the Giants went out and made it a point to address their offensive line via the draft, which general manager Dave Gettleman believes can finally begin the o-line fix once and for all.
Big Blue will be expecting big things both immediately and long-term from their first pick Andrew Thomas. Offensive tackle Matt Peart (third round) and guard Shane Lemieux (fifth round) could have more impact a year or two down the line.
Regardless, it’s nice to see the Giants prioritizing protecting Daniel Jones and helping Saquon Barkley in the running game. It may just be that the front office learned from the last few years and we will always wonder what could have been if they had prioritized the offensive line during the last few years of Manning’s career.
