How Much Should Be Expected of NY Giants OL Marcus Mbow This Year?

As the New York Giants continue to mold what they hope will become a strong and cohesive offensive line for the upcoming 2025 season, one element that they are not discounting in their mission is versatility. 

Not many players in their position group exemplify that trait better than rookie lineman and fifth-round pick Marcus Mbow. 

Last season, the Giants’ offensive front had its concerns at nearly every spot, but arguably the most concerning were the outside tackle positions that suffered the biggest impact from the piling of injuries that took place towards the second half of the campaign. 

What the Giants quickly discovered was that after starters Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemunor, they needed to make some big moves to fortify the depth behind their two proven pieces. 

Their incumbent options, guys like Joshua Ezeudu and Evan Neal, simply weren’t cutting it, and the franchise needed to look outside of the walls of 1925 Giants Drive to find the proper answers. 

They started in free agency with a couple of veteran tackle additions and then added to the group with the selection of Mbow with the 154th overall pick in the NFL Draft. 

Mbow, a Purdue product and four-year player with the Boilermakers, is a lighter lineman at his size but was known to display great lateral speed and aggressiveness off the snap, which helped him contend with more talented and lengthy pass rushers at the collegiate level. 

What made him even more coveted as a late-round selection was that he performed while playing in two different positions, right guard and right tackle, where he saw over 1,700 snaps and still was one of the sharpest pass protectors on the Boilermakers, posting grades as high as 80.6 while allowing no more than three sacks and 25 total pressures in a single campaign. 

While they have their two stalwart offensive tackles back in place for this season, the Giants are eager to see whether Mbow can mold himself into one of those two roles within their ranks and provide a flexible asset in the event of injuries or simply a change in the composition of the front in the middle of the season. 

There have been signs of some early work at the right tackle position in the team’s OTA practices ahead of the mandatory minicamp and the full training camp later this summer, but it could remain fluid as we wait to see how certain position battles or health statuses shape out in the time being. 

No matter what path he is asked to take as a rookie, the Giants at least know that Mbow is coming into the pros with supreme confidence in his abilities, among those being a masterful protector regardless of where he is sparring in the trenches.

Marcus Mbow, OL

2024 in Review

Mbow saw the largest workload of his collegiate tenure at the right tackle position after spending the previous two seasons flip-flopping between there and right guard. The 22-year-old appeared in 666 total offensive snaps, his second year with over 600 reps, and posted his career-high 74.0 offensive grade in what was another one of his pretty good pass protection stints. 

In that span that included 385 pass-blocking snaps, Mbow allowed just three sacks, one quarterback hit, and 25 total pressures, which was good for a 96.2% blocking efficiency and a 68.0 PFF pass-blocking grade. He did struggle a bit with penalties, though, tallying a career-high seven infractions that can sometimes occur when a smaller player is trying to overcompensate for slowing down larger and more mobile defenders. 

Mbow played some of his best football between Weeks 4 and 11 of Purdue’s slate when he had seven straight contests with allowing a sack to be registered to his name and under three pressures in each of those games. 

From there, he would only give up one more sack against Penn State in Week 12 and had one bad game with five overall pressures the following week against Michigan State. 

Altogether, Mbow’s performance left him within the top 40 tackles in the Big 10 conference and 10th in terms of pressures allowed. The numbers could have been better in some areas, but they were still valiant for a player who was asked to bounce positions in each of his last three seasons.

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Contract/Cap Info

Shortly after he was drafted, the Giants and Mbow agreed to a four-year contract with a total value of $4,618,384, which includes a $418,384 signing bonus. For the first year of his deal, Mbow will earn a base salary of $840,000 as part of the $944,596 cap hit.  

2025 Preview

With Mbow, it's not so much about whether he can steal the swing tackle job in his first season as the Giants have brought in the veteran James Hudson III, who will likely get that nod due to his prior experience playing at the highest level. 

Instead, the objective should be to clarify what initial role he can best fit as he translates his game into the pros and begins to further develop his skill set at that position. 

Mbow’s background playing both guard and tackle would be an invaluable asset, as those are two areas where the Giants have dealt with constant injuries and inconsistent protection. 

That said, it appears that the Giants will utilize the rookie as an offensive tackle, potentially on the right side, as the first replacement for Jermaine Eluemunor. In contrast, Hudson serves as the second man behind Andrew Thomas. 

The team is confident that he can provide quality insurance if and when the inevitable injuries resurface, and Mbow has done nothing but radiate that same early optimism that he can become something special for this unit in New York.  

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