Free Agency 2024 has unofficially gotten underway, as teams have opted to either tag their players or let them walk into Free Agency as the 2024 league year will commence next week.
Make little mistake about it, the Giants have only been able to offer an offensive line that has continued to rank very low in the NFL for several seasons. Aggressively pursuing offensive line help, whether it be through the draft or in Free Agency 2024, may offer a key addition and finally solve those problems.
Giants Have Struggled At Offensive Line Positions
A common theme throughout the Giants struggles in the last decade is lack of solid offensive line play. One look at how the unit performed in 2023 offers plenty of clues as to just how bad it has become. Despite multiple first-round picks being used in recent years to acquire both Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal, chaos reigned amongst the many players the Giants had to shuffle in and out due to injuries and other issues within the lineup.
In 2023, this unit gave up 85 total sacks. This constitutes the second-most sacks any one offensive line has ever given up. They were one of the many reasons why Daniel Jones returned to his prior struggles, and then Jones would suffer a season-ending ACL Tear in Week 9. Even in the face of a winning streak from Weeks 11 to 14, helmed by an unheralded local hero who went to Illinois for college, things did not get better for this line, or team on the whole, as the Giants finished with a 6-11 record.
For the Giants, Free Agency 2024 offers two big potential pieces to add to a struggling offensive line. Failing to do so many see Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll’s jobs go up in smoke next offseason.
Free Agency 2024: Dalton Rinser Should be Foremost Target for Big Blue
Dalton Rinser began his career with the Broncos in 2019. Rinser would prove to be so reliable in four years with the Broncos that he started all but four games for the team, before he was let go in the 2022 offseason. Rinser found his way to Minnesota for 2023, where he joined a team that regressed from a 13-4 record to a 7-10 record. Rinser took a step back, but remained a decently reliable face on that team’s offensive line unit.
Free Agency 2024 may see Rinser spurn his one-year employers in the Minnesota Vikings to look elsewhere.
Giants Free Agency 2024 Alternate Target: Mike Onwenu
Free Agency 2024 will also see Mike Onwenu be unlikely to return to the team he has spent the past four seasons with. In 56 career starts, Onwenu has not given up any sacks and has been a stalwart in an offensive line unit that has seen struggles of their own. Much like with Rinser, Onwenu will look to take his talents elsewhere, unless New England finds a way to bring him back.
Conclusion
Free Agency 2024, much like the rest of this Offseason, is pivotal for Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen. How Schoen addresses the issue that has been the ire of New York Giants fans for years may be the deciding factor on if he survives in New York past 2024.