The offensive line has been a revolving door for the New York Giants over the past few seasons. The only bright spot has been Andrew Thomas at left tackle, which forced new general manager Joe Schoen to make significant changes across the board to help provide better protection for quarterback Daniel Jones.
One of the moves Schoen executed was signing Mark Glowinski to a three-year, $18.3 million deal with $11.4 million guaranteed.
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What is Mark Glowinski bringing to the New York Giants?
Glowinski has seven years of NFL experience, three with the Seattle Seahawks and four with the Indianapolis Colts. He has provided toughness and adequate run-blocking throughout his career. He has gradually improved as a pass protector as well, showcasing stellar numbers during the second half of the 2021 season.
If there’s any specific metric that offensive line coach Bobby Johnson is looking for, it is overall aggressiveness and toughness in the trenches.
“I want guys that are tough and I don’t mean physically tough, I mean mentally tough. If you’re mentally tough you’ll be physically tough,” Johnson said. “I don’t care what they got on the ACT. I don’t care what they got on the Wonderlic. Are they football smart? Can they process the information, can they solve problems?”
Glowinski allowed two sacks and 38 total pressures last season but finished the final eight games without giving up a sack and just one quarterback hit. He was impeccable as a run blocker and stood tall in pass pro, keeping quarterback Carson Wentz clean on the right side of the line.
Mark indicated that toughness is exactly what you want in the trenches. Pairing him with a monster right tackle in Evan Neal should provide the Giants with him an upgraded unit.
“That’s part of the game. That’s the way you want it,” he said this spring. “You want an O-line, you want smart guys, and you also want guys that want to dominate and be aggressive and finish and do all the things that it takes to score points, win games.”
Schoen has had to overcome serious salary cap limitations. Signing Glowinski was one of his bigger moves of the off-season. Spending a bit of cash was necessary to give Jones a fighting chance at a contract extension with Big Blue. Management has already rejected the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, meaning it is all or nothing for DJ in 2022, who could have to find a new home if he doesn’t significantly elevate his game.