Saquon Barkley made waves last year after being drafted number two overall by the New York Giants, but Barkley wasn’t the only rookie impact player last year – offensive guard Will Hernandez quickly became a fixture on the Giants offensive line and took the starting job immediately, not looking back. Going into his second season, Hernandez is one of the players that will be seen on a redesigned offensive line, one that hopefully performs better than last season’s lineup did.
Going into training camp next month, Hernandez talked a bit about what’s ahead for that group of players. “We can’t come off the ball 100 miles per hour. So the biggest thing for us is getting the playbook down, getting the proper technique and steps, little things like that, because once camp comes around and we throw the pads on, that’s not necessarily the first thing you’re thinking about,” Hernandez told the Giants website.
“You’re thinking about not getting blown up by the guy across from you. Now is the time to work on those things, and then the physicality, the hard hitting and all that, will come when the pads come on,” Hernandez added. Training camp will be the first time the team works out with pads and full contact drills, making it the most important part of the offseason activities.
Hernandez also seems to be fitting well into this year’s group of players, who haven’t played a regular season game together as a starting lineup yet. According to Hernandez, Kevin Zeitler is already serving as a good teacher. Zeitler was included as part of the Giants’ move to send Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon to Cleveland, and joins Mike Remmers as a new addition with big expectations.
However, that’s not to say that the offensive line already has a decided lineup. While Zeitler and Hernandez are already the first team players at guard, there’s already a competition at right tackle, one which isn’t as clear cut. In this case, the position battle is a good thing for the Giants – the team lacked depth in several areas in 2018 and the offensive line was one of them.
With Hernandez hopefully taking a step forward in 2019, it won’t be long before we see whether the offensive line as a whole can move forward from their poor performances of last year. Whether they can or can’t will be one of the deciding factors in whether the Giants can be a good and fun to watch team this year, or one that’s easy to lose interest in by midseason once again.