New York Giants sign OL Eric Smith, Brian Daboll details injury woes at tackle

andrew thomas, eric smith, new york giants

The New York Giants have been facing some problems in the injury department at the offensive tackle spot the past few weeks. This past week, the notable exit was Matt Gono, who left with an undisclosed injury that ended up being a career-threatening neck issue.

With Gono all but ruled out for the 2022 season, Big Blue hosted offensive line tryouts, signing Eric Smith after a workout over the weekend.

Smith has 562 snaps of offensive play in his career, spending time with Miami, the Jets, and the Dallas Cowboys. Smith was originally an undrafted free agent out of Virginia in 2017, playing 172 snaps as a rookie, giving up one sack and 10 pressures.

Smith is obviously depth at the tackle position since Gono was expected to be the swing option there. If either Andrew Thomas or Evan Neal are expected to miss any time during the year, Smith could be called into action.

However, I wouldn’t rule out Josh Ezuedu to slide in at left tackle, considering he’s been practicing there during training camp at times and has experience during his days with UNC.

The New York Giants need more reserve talent on the OL:

Daboll spoke about the lack of depth at tackle and how general manager Joe Schoen was going to be actively looking for more competitors.

“I think Joe (Schoen) and his staff — the scouting department — are going to look at every avenue to try to improve that situation. You obviously can’t, you don’t have a crystal ball when that stuff happens,” Daboll told reporters on Sunday.

The Giants also lost offensive guard Marcus McKethan, their fifth-round pick from this year’s draft class. McKethan suffered an ACL tear during Friday’s fan fest scrimmage.

“And it’s too bad, by the way, about Marcus. I spoke to him yesterday. For a young player to have a non-contact injury, it was tough. But he’s in good spirits. So, he’ll have to start rehabbing. But we’ll try to do whatever we need to do. Whatever it needs to do, we’re going to try to do.”

Once again, the MetLife turf struck another knee, further deepening a conspiracy that the stadium is a graveyard for injuries.