New York Giants: Nick Gates Speaks On First Start

The New York Giants may have made some questionable decisions with Dave Gettleman at the helm as General Manager, but one thing that Gettleman has done well is find players such as Grant Haley and Darius Slayton, who have performed better than their draft status may suggest. It looks like the Giants could have another one of those players on their hands with offensive lineman Nick Gates, a strong performer from Nebraska who ended up going undrafted and was taken by the Giants as a free agent.

Months later, Gates now looks like a member of the starting rotation with Mike Remmers and Jon Halapio both out with injuries for now. The current situation is what makes a versatile player like Gates useful, as he can play across the line and could even see time at center due to Halapio’s injury. It remains to be seen what the status of Remmers and Halapio will be in week eleven, but if even one of them is still injured in the Bears game, it could see more minutes given to Gates as a replacement.

What did Gates think about his first start, which came in the loss against the Jets?

The addition of new blood to the offensive line is likely welcome to fans with the way that they’ve played so far – despite Gettleman prioritizing the offensive line as soon as he received the job with the Giants, neither his initial rework of it nor this season’s updates have been able to improve the play very much, with quarterback Daniel Jones finding himself in constant danger each game thanks to the poor blocking.

Will Gates continue playing and help to improve that necessary area? That’s not entirely clear yet, but considering the Giants didn’t have to trade a player or spend a draft pick to acquire Gates, they’re already getting a good value by having him in the rotation. There’s not many options at offensive line for this team, after all, after a lackluster trade deadline didn’t bring anyone new to the position.