O-line shuffle could make Price center of attention tonight
The Giants’ offensive line overhaul might put a new center in front of Daniel Jones for tonight’s visit to Washington: former first-round pick Billy Price. Left guard Shane Lemieux (knee) is out for Week 2 after playing only three series as the Giants’ Week 1 starter against Denver. Joe Judge has to put his best five linemen on the FedEx Field grass to handle a stellar Washington defensive line led by dynamic edge rusher Chase Young.
Moving center Nick Gates to guard always was an option in a “break glass” emergency, as Judge says. And the Giants might already be there.
Guard Ben Bredeson, who replaced Lemieux against the Broncos, will be in the rotation, as well. But sliding Gates to guard and giving Price his first Giants start is on the table.
“When you’ve played a lot of ball, it’s just like riding a bike,” Price said Tuesday of the challenge of forming quick chemistry with Jones.
Price, the Bengals’ 21st overall pick in the 2018 draft, already fits in well with this Giants offensive line in one sense: He has been doubted and written off as much as the others have.
The Bengals had him buried as a backup center-guard before trading him to the Giants on Aug. 30 for backup defensive end B.J. Hill and a 2022 conditional seventh-round pick.
Peter King of NBC Sports then called Price a “center-guard bust” in his criticism of the Giants’ acquisition.
“People don’t really understand offensive line play, so to that person, that’s their opinion,” Price said when told of the bust label. “And we’ll leave it at that.”
Price played only one special-teams snap and zero on offense in the Giants’ Week 1 loss to Denver. But two things could have him ready to handle a full workload in Week 2: The first is moving back to center, his natural position, where his play at Ohio State got him drafted so high. Cincinnati had him at both guard and center in his first three seasons.
“Whatever they need me to do,” Price said. “If they need me to play guard, I can play guard. I feel more natural and more comfortable at center, but I can play and play at a high level at guard in my opinion.”
The second is that Price is familiar with Jason Garrett’s offense because Bengals O-line coach Frank Pollack was on Garrett’s Cowboys staff from 2013-17.
“There’s a lot of carryover,” Price said. “The schemes are all very similar. (The main difference is) just how we call it and different terms for blocking styles.”
Maybe that will help offset Price’s extended absence from the Giants’ facility following his trade due to the quarantining protocols for unvaccinated players. He got traded on Aug. 30 and had to quarantine for four straight days and test negative for five before entering.
His first on-field practice wasn’t until Sept. 6, the Monday before the Giants’ opener.
Gates at guard, meanwhile, could improve the overall line. He was a tackle before the Giants converted him to a center last year, and he prefers guard or tackle to center.
Giants O-line coach Rob Sale said on Sept. 2 that Gates at guard was “absolutely” a possibility.
“It’s our job to find the best five out there,” Sale said. “No matter where the pieces of the puzzle (fit), we plug them in and we go. Nick can handle the communication at guard. He took some reps at guard (in practice).”
Refreshingly, the Giants’ line wasn’t the offense’s problem in the passing game against Denver.
Oft-scrutinized left tackle Andrew Thomas had Pro Football Focus’ highest pass-block grade (87.6) on true pass sets for Week 1.
The Broncos’ defense, playing without edge Bradley Chubb (ankle), generated 13 QB pressures on Jones’ 37 pass attempts. Von Miller had both Broncos sacks, including one on a free run at Jones when Gates snapped the ball early by mistake.
“I felt pass-pro was a lot better than it was this time last year,” Gates said Monday.
The running game was pathetic, though. The running backs combined for 33 rushing yards on 14 carries. Saquon Barkley ran 10 times for 26 yards, and Devontae Booker had four carries for seven yards. Jones led the team with 27 yards on the ground.
Washington boasts four first-round picks on its D-line: Young, Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen and Montez Sweat. Judge implied Tuesday that he thought Young, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft, should have gone No. 1 overall that year over Bengals QB Joe Burrow.
“Chase is a rare guy,” Judge said. “He’s really one of the elite guys in the league. Nobody misevaluated this guy (in the draft). I’ll say it right now, like, maybe he didn’t go high enough.”
The Giants might be able to take advantage of Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s vanilla schemes to slow the front four down.
Del Rio basically sent Young and Sweat straight upfield on their pass rushes in last year’s playoff against the Buccaneers, and Tom Brady was never uncomfortable. He stepped straight up into the pocket all night.
However the pass protection goes, though, the Giants will concentrate early on establishing a running game after getting stuffed by Denver.
Sliding Gates over to guard might help them do that. It wouldn’t be surprising if Bredeson eventually replaced Will Hernandez on the right, either, if Hernandez’s spotty play keeps up.
Bredeson no doubt will play in the Giants’ customary rotation anyway, a shuffle that saw Matt Peart log 19 snaps in Week 1 despite Nate S Solder (43 snaps) starting on that side. o goes the constant turnover of the offensive line that GM Dave Gettleman promised to fix four years ago and scrambled to patchwork after cutdown day two weeks ago. Tonight, therefore, is a big night for everyone — not just the players.