Could Marcus Mbow Be Giants' Future Answer at Center?

New York Giants offensive lineman Marcus Mbow, last year's fifth-round draft pick, has been one of the more promising-looking young offensive linemen to land in East Rutherford.

Mbow, who was primarily a right tackle at Purdue, also gained experience playing right guard, which came earlier in his four-year college career. That experience led some scouts to believe that Mbow’s NFL future might be inside.

To date, though, that has not happened. Mbow, as a rookie, played 261 snaps at left tackle for Andrew Thomas, most of those coming in the last three games of the season when Thomas was sidelined with a hamstring issue. 

Mbow also played 58 snaps at right tackle, stepping in for a game when starter Jermaine Eluemunor was injured.

With the Giants set at tackle for the foreseeable future, a move inside for Mbow has been discussed, according to offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren, who admitted that Mbow got some snaps at center during OTAs earlier this year.

“It's been talked about in the building,” Bloomgren said. “Right now he's more comfortable playing tackle, and I'm pretty comfortable with what he's doing out there.”

The topic likely arose given the Giants’ current situation at center. Starter John Michael Schmitz is in the final year of his contract and is currently recovering from a concussion he suffered a week ago in practice. Backup Lucas Patrick has been dealing with a knee issue that has kept him out of practice.

That has left untested youngster Bryan Hudson to man the first-team reps at center in practice, with Jake Kubas and newcomer Brenden Jaimes filling out the rest of the allotted reps.

Mbow has the physical foundation to make a successful move inside, including athleticism, good movement ability, and a high football IQ. The 6-foot-5, 300-pounder also has good foot speed, all of which would benefit him if he needed to pull or climb to the second level.  

His biggest challenge in transitioning to center would be his height, as he’d have to be conscientious of his pad level.

From a team perspective, if they were to move Mbow inside as a potential starter at center, they would have to find a new swing tackle to replace him, the most likely candidate being rookie J.C. Davis.

It’s obviously too late to run the experiment with Mbow at center at this point, but it does sound like something that could be on tap in the future, pending how things with Schmitz, Hudson, and Davis all pan out over the coming year.