Following a litany of continuing criticism enclosing the trade of Odell Beckham Jr. and everything and anything related to the New York quarterback situation, the Giants appear to possess one longtime ill on the road to being remedied.
Throughout the last half of the 2018 year, the Giants offensive line improved. Eli Manning was sacked 47 times, while the attack improved from 78 yards per game, but the past half of the season was taken down 16 days.
A lot of the credit for that must go to the play of then-rookie Will Hernandez, as the guard’s play got better as the season went on and he combined all-everything running Saquon Barkley about the 2018 NFL All-Rookie Team.
Together with his next offseason underway, Hernandez appears poised to solidify himself as one of the prime motives behind the New York offensive line becoming a plus rather than the lingering negative and has settled .
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“It certainly doesn’t even feel as the exact same period of year that I had a year ago,” Hernandez said via the team website. “It seems like a completely different time of year to me. I feel like I’m a lot more comfortable here and I feel like I could breathe. I am not struggling to find out the entire playbook, down everything, learn everything, make sure I don’t mess up. I am actually able to appreciate it, but in the exact same time, work hard and have to know these men better.”
Many consider Hernandez’ advancement will continue in his sophomore season and it’s no coincidence that the Giants’ offensive line as a whole is expected to perform the same.
Left tackle Nate Solder is expected to return from injury for training camp and Hernandez and he will be joined Mike Remmers and by offseason acquisitions Kevin Zeitler. Zeitler came into the G-Men via a trade with the Browns.
The presence of zeitler has been a boon much for Hernandez.
“He has been phenomenal, not just as a player but as a teacher, too,” Hernandez said. “He’s taught a lot of young guys, including myself, a great deal of technique. He was one of the greatest pass guards at the league last year, so that he certainly has a great deal to offer and he is passing it on to the young guys, myself too, and we’re really glad to have him.”
Historically, the transition to get offensive linemen — from high school to college and from college to the NFL — has been viewed as one of probably, and the more difficult due to the physicality, fundamentals, technique learning a strategy.
In Hernandez’ situation, he started all 16 games as a rookie and got markedly better throughout the effort. Expect Hernandez to take his game to another level in 2019, perhaps becoming one of the very highly regarded guards.
“I believe they always say from the first to your second year is the biggest step in progress,” Solder explained. “I have seen a great deal of advancement throughout our entire group, so maybe you are able to characterize not just a person but the whole group from 1 year to two years and make a big improvement. Surely our expectations are sky high.”