Giants expecting significant jump from tackles, which explains lack of OL in draft
The Giants didn't address the offensive line in free agency or the draft
After a season during which Eli Manning was under constant pressure and the team's running game failed to get significantly untracked, the expectation around the NFL was that the New York Giants would look to upgrade their offense line in either free agency or the draft.
After free agency came and went with the Giants' only offensive line move being to sign D.J. Fluker to a one-year, $3 million deal, there was a consensus opinion that the Giants would address the line early in the 2017 draft. If not in the first round, then soon after.
But that didn't happen, either. The Giants didn't select an offensive lineman until the sixth round, when they took Pitt guard Adam Bisnowati.
That means they'll enter 2017 once again starting Ereck Flowers and Bobby Hart, one of last season's worst tackle combinations, on the outside of the offensive line. Giants GM Jerry Reese is confident they'll get better play out of the duo this season, and that explains why the team didn't draft any tackles.
"It's almost kind of developmental, some ups and downs as young players but we expect these guys to make a significant jump this season, because they've been in the league already," Reese said in an appearance on Mike Francesa's radio show. "Those guys could have been in this draft class."
Only one tackle allowed more pressures (sacks plus hits plus hurries) than Flowers last season, per Pro Football Focus, and only 12 allowed more than Hart. They're going to have to make that significant jump if the Giants want Eli Manning to have enough time to throw the ball to his upgraded receiving corps, which now features Brandon Marshall and first round tight end Evan Engram.
















