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Sep 16, 2021; Landover, Maryland, USA; The New York Giants offense lines up against the Washington Football Team defense in the second quarter at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

This Giants Position Unit is Most Improved in 2025

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Gene Clemons | Last updated Jun 9, 2025 5:00 PM ET

The New York Giants are progressing through the offseason, trying to galvanize a team filled with a bunch of new players. The coaches and support staff are helping all of them to get better as a team, as units, and as individuals.

The word for this team is ‘improvement,’ and if the Giants are to have success this season, it will depend on the growth of various units on this squad. So far, there is one unit that seems to have improved the most, and that is the offensive line.

Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemunor provide the Giants with bookends that they have not had in a very long time, but that is not where the improvement comes from.

The improvement is tied to what the team has done behind the scenes. They signed James Hudson III and Stone Forsythe in free agency. Both have experience starting, and both have played the position they were brought in to back up. Hudson is playing left tackle, and Forsythe is on the right side.

They also drafted Purdue tackle Marcus Mbow, who has the versatility to play either guard or tackle, but he is currently working at tackle. Jeremy Ezuedu is also trying to find some position stability at tackle.

That gives this part of the unit depth, versatility, experience, and youth. It also intensifies the competition, as there is no guarantee that they will keep five tackles on the active roster.

In the last two seasons when Thomas went down, there was no plan, no organization. That is no longer the case. They understand how much that hurt this team, and you have to respect their desire to correct that mistake going into the 2025 season.

They now not only have a plan but also contingencies in case the plan does not work as they thought it would. That is a massive improvement.

On the interior of the offensive line, the Giants have the opportunity to start the same unit as they had in 2024. That has not happened in quite some time for this team. Jon Runyan Jr and Greg Van Roten are back at the guards, and John Michael Schmitz prepares for his third season at center.

The intrigue now lies behind those three. Aaron Stinnie is back as a reliable veteran backup, as is Austin Schlottmann at center.

Second-year guard Jake Kubas will look to showcase his improvements in year two, but the biggest shadow being cast on the interior is former starting right tackle Evan Neal, who has been freed up to move inside and work at guard.

The first thing to consider with all these players returning and adding Neal is the increased competition. Nobody played so well that they are irreplaceable, so all of these positions could be up for grabs.

Schlottmann spent most of his 2024 on IR, Kubas was a rookie, and Van Roten was a 35-year-old journeyman lineman, so his spot could be vulnerable.

That is where many believe that Neal could slide comfortably into that spot. If he did, it would free up Van Roten to really compete at center and possibly raise the desire to improve at that position.

All of that and Mbow, who many believe is a guard, could always be an option there as well. This group will motivate each other through competition and raise each other's level of play. It makes the entire unit deeper and gives them flexibility to move pieces around.

This could be the first season where Giants fans get to argue over who gets cut because they thought that player could have helped the team. They currently have 16 offensive linemen on the roster, and they clearly will not keep all of those.

They will get to keep the best of the best, most versatile options that make sense for this team and its offensive identity. That is a big improvement from what we have seen in the past.

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