Giants Pushed to Sign Former Rival All-Pro at Position of Weakness

There’s no sugarcoating it, the New York Giants must show significant signs of life in 2025 in order to save the jobs of general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll — as well as many other players and staff members in the process. And they must do so against a very daunting schedule on paper.

With that in mind, Pro Football Network recently urged the Giants to make one more necessary signing ahead of training camp in a document shared with Heavy. In it, they argued that NYG should make a run at five-time Pro Bowler and former Washington first-team All-Pro guard Brandon Scherff.

“The New York Giants entered the draft with one of the NFL’s weakest offensive lines,” Pro Football Network began, stating their case. “The Giants ranked 27th in PFSN’s OL+ metric last year and didn’t make major free agent additions beyond swing tackles James Hudson and Stone Forsythe.”

“After drafting just a single offensive lineman — Purdue guard Marcus Mbow in the fifth round — the Giants also exited the draft with one of the worst lines,” PFN argued on. “Apart from left tackle Andrew Thomas and center John Michael Schmitz Jr., the Giants could reasonably look for an upgrade at the other three spots.”

While that last part is a little harsh toward right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and left guard Jon Runyan Jr., Scherff’s experience and savvy would certainly upgrade the right guard position, rounding out this blocking unit.

Despite turning 33 years old in December, Scherff “didn’t allow a single sack in 592 pass-blocking snaps” last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, per PFN.

They added that “among guards, only Trey Smith of the [Kansas City] Chiefs (665) had more pass-blocking snaps without allowing a sack.”

Giants Would Have to Make Major Cap Moves to Sign Brandon Scherff

Although it’s unclear what Scherff might cost at this point in his career, his 2025 cap hit will probably end up being more than what the Giants currently have available.

Over the Cap lists NYG’s estimated cap space as $5,947,708. And that’s after they restructured Brian Burns’ contract so that they could sign first-round pick Abdul Carter.

There are still other cap-saving moves that Schoen can make, let’s say he wants to spend on one final free agent upgrade like Scherff. But most come with future risk.

The Giants could also cut a veteran at an area of strength to help free up enough financial space for more offensive line help.

Greg Van Roten & Jake Kubas Headline Deep Giants’ Camp Competition at Right Guard

The Giants have a whole mess of options at right guard heading into 2025 training camp, including the aforementioned Mbow and failed first-round offensive tackle Evan Neal — who will presumably get a look on the interior.

Despite Neal’s name value and Mbow’s rookie appeal, the two frontrunners for the starting role are most likely 2024 starter Greg Van Roten and promising 2024 UDFA Jake Kubas.

Van Roten has as much NFL experience as Scherff, without all the accolades, while Kubas offers more room to grow. As would Mbow or Neal, if they can successfully make the transition from offensive tackle.

Journeymen backups Austin Schlottmann and Aaron Stinnie could be in the mix at right guard, too, although neither is expected to win the job.