Although we are new to the team, we are not new to each other.
Do they need to bring in some new players on the right side of the offensive line? Of course, they'll raid the Raiders.
“I don’t know if there’s any precedent for it, but it definitely helps with continuity,” coach Greg Van Roten told The Post after practice on Wednesday. “It’s unusual to have the same guy with continuity on two different teams.”
Yeah, that's unusual. Changing teams almost always means getting used to new teammates. That certainly happened with Van Roten, but not with his most important professional relationship. He'll start Sunday in the season opener against the Vikings as the Giants' new starting right guard. Right next to him, to the right, will be tackle Jermaine El-Huehneau. The two played the same position last season with the Raiders. The Giants signed both in free agency, quickly transplanting the right side of their offensive line from Las Vegas.
“Me and GV have been playing together for a whole year now, so he understands my game and I understand his game, so we really benefit from each other and I think that's really great,” El Emnor told the Post.
But that's not all: Prior to the addition of El-Emunor and Van Roten, Giants coach Brian Daboll hired Carmen Bricillo to replace Bobby Johnson as offensive line coach, a position that Bricillo held for the past two seasons with the Raiders, as you might expect.
It's a Raiders reunion.
“Adding Calm to the mix, he understands our style of play, he knows our tendencies and what we like out there,” El-Emunor said. “He doesn't have to coach the unknown. That's good for us, that's good for Calm, that's good for the entire offensive line.”
The left side of the line, star tackle Andrew Thomas and reliable, durable rookie John Runyan (who has played in 50 games for the Packers the past three seasons), aren't going to be a problem, but rather a strength. Second-year center John-Michael Schmitz will have to stay healthy and prove he can play much better than he did as a rookie. It's on the right side of the line that this grand experiment will take place. If the 29-year-old El Emnor and the 34-year-old Van Roten can do for the Giants in 2024 what they did for the Raiders in 2023 (the two played nearly 800 snaps together), it's not hard to imagine this offensive line being a smart, capable unit.
“They're always together, they joke around and have a good relationship on and off the field,” Runyan said. “They're both veteran guys that you can trust and I think that bodes well for our offensive line this year.”
It's not like the Giants plundered a pathetic team: The Raiders were rated the 10th best offensive line in the league last season by Pro Football Focus, and El Emnor and Van Roten had arguably the best seasons of their mostly nomadic careers.
El Emnor was a spot starter and primarily a backup with three teams over his first five years in the NFL before breaking out in 2022, starting all 17 games for the Raiders and emerging as a solid right tackle, and continuing that development in 2023. Per PFF, El Emnor allowed six sacks in 552 pass-blocking snaps and was a bulldozer in the running game.
A native of Rockville Centre, Long Island, Van Roten graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012 and went undrafted. His nine years of bouncing around the league (the Giants are his sixth team) are a testament to his ability to fit in and perform well when called upon. There was no reason to doubt he would have a career resurgence in 2023, and he did, starting all 17 games at right guard for the Raiders. He was not fouled in 1,025 snaps, allowed five sacks in 626 pass-blocking snaps and earned a PFF composite grade of 75.3, the seventh-best grade among 79 guards and the highest grade of his career.
So there's no denying the Giants are banking on a pair of in-form veterans. That's encouraging. What's unclear is whether they're already playing their best and whether it's realistic to expect them to continue to improve.
What is certain is that Elémonor and Van Roten would be perfectly comfortable standing next to each other – they are friends on and off the field and know each other's wives and daughters.
“For me, especially with the uncertainty that my career has been in, this is the first time I've played alongside the same tackle two years in a row,” Van Roten said. “It's definitely a positive.”
On the right side of the offensive line, the Raider Way went to the Giants.
