{"id":191406,"date":"2026-04-09T21:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191406\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T21:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:46:08","slug":"new-york-giants-iol-issues-far-from-solved-after-slew-of-signings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191406\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Giants’ iOL issues far from solved after slew of signings"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 9, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The New York Giants<\/a> have been adding interior linemen to their roster in free agency this spring, but are any of them really upgrades or viable solutions?<\/p>\n

The re-signing of Evan Neal and Joshua Ezeudu provided more puzzlement than anything else. The addition of veteran guard\/center Lucas Patrick and former Baltimore Ravens guard Daniel Faalele also leaves much to be desired.<\/p>\n

For those who think these moves solve the Giants’ interior line issues, think again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Neal and Ezeudu each failed as the team’s high draft picks and had four years to prove their worth, which they didn’t. The new regime under John Harbaugh wants to “wipe the slate clean” with many players who previously failed with the Giants. Maybe he can salvage them. Maybe.<\/p>\n

Patrick is a 32-year-old journeyman who is on his fourth team in as many years. He’s a depth piece, at best.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Faalele is a Giant only because his previous patron with Baltimore, Harbaugh, is now in New York. Not many teams were interested. His tape is littered with embarrassing moments.<\/p>\n

Still, the massive (6-foot-8, 370 pounds) Faalele appears to be in the pole position for the right guard job, reports Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Faalele might actually have the edge given that he started the final 34 games of Harbaugh\u2019s tenure with the Ravens. He became a lightning rod for disgruntled fans whose anger only grew each time Harbaugh defended his play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to start for [the] Giants,\u201d one NFL talent evaluator told The Post. \u201cHe can look really bad on a play when he is beaten, but play to play, he\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faalele was ranked the No. 52 guard (out of 79) in the NFL by Pro Football Focus last season. He allowed five sacks and committed eight penalties over the past two seasons combined.<\/p>\n

None of these moves should preclude general manager Joe Schoen from drafting a guard\/center come the 2026 NFL draft in two weeks.<\/p>\n

It’s frustrating that the team hasn’t shown interest in Greg Van Roten, who played right guard every snap over the past two seasons. If anything, they should bring back GVR and concentrate on upgrading the other two interior line positions.<\/p>\n

Left guard Jon Runyan Jr. and center John Michael Schmitz are in the final years of their respective contracts with the team. Neither has distinguished themselves to the point where contract extensions are warranted.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 9, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET The New York Giants have been adding interior linemen to their roster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[679,9,11,10,1941,1942,948,76267,16948,44172,76609,950,930,932,1047,949,682],"class_list":{"0":"post-191406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-sstssportsnflgiants","13":"tag-sstsngiants","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagdaniel-faalele","16":"tag-tagevan-neal","17":"tag-tagjoshua-ezeudu","18":"tag-taglucas-patrick","19":"tag-tagnational-sports","20":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagoverall-negative","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}