Tag: Cam Fleming

Is O-Line now the Giants’ biggest liability?

The New York Giants have worked hard to repair their offensive line, but does it remain their biggest liability headed into the season?

Every NFL team has their assets as well as their liabilities and for the New York Giants, their offensive line has been a liability for quite some time.

In his latest piece on each team’s biggest liability going into this season, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox identifies the O-Line as the Giants’ most glaring question mark this summer.

We agree, even though the defense was probably the biggest concern coming out of the season last December. The Giants have just one known entity on their offensive line at the moment — right guard Kevin Zeitler — after left guard Will Hernandez endured a disappointing second season and left tackle Nate Solder opted out due to coronavirus concerns.

The Giants have, however, taken steps to address the unit through the NFL Draft and free agency, along with bringing in Dallas Cowboys line coach Marc Colombo to head the group, but it’s a huge ask for this bunch to form some cohesiveness in such a short period of time.

“The Giants will now likely rely on some combination of rookie fourth overall pick Andrew Thomas, rookie third-round pick Matt Peart and former Cowboys and Patriots backup Cameron Fleming at tackle,” writes Knox. “Could this group of tackles prove capable of protecting quarterback Daniel Jones? Sure. With no preseason, however, it could take them some time into the regular season to jell. Given Jones’ struggles with pocket awareness and fumbling—he had 18 fumbles in 13 games last season—this could be a major issue in 2020.”

That is the fear. Too many rookies and new faces on the line could prove to be too challenging at the outset but many see it as a step in the right direction.

Thomas and Peart were both coveted by many teams in the draft and Fleming, having played for Colombo last season in Dallas should help make for a smoother transition.

In addition, the Giants are looking to make a change at center where veteran Spencer Pulley will face challenges from Nick Gates and rookie Shane Lemieux.

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2020 Giants training camp: Position battles to watch

As the New York Giants ready themselves for padded training camp practices, here are some key positional battles to watch.

Every summer brings NFL training camps and every training camp has their share of roster battles.

With a new coaching staff and a load of new faces to pit against some unproven old faces, the New York Giants’ camp will have quite a number of battles for key positions this year.

AP Photo/Roger Steinman

Offensive tackle

Nate Solder was going to have to prove that he was still left tackle timber this summer before he opted out for the season. So, left tackle was very much in play. Now, it’s their priority.

The Giants are hopeful that first round pick Andrew Thomas slides right in and starts from Day 1. That could still happen. He’ll have plenty of company, though. Third round pick Matt Peart will now be thrust into the mix for the left tackle spot as well.

Right tackle is even more wide open. The loser of the left tackle role will have to fend off veteran free agent Cam Fleming and the Giants’ everyman, Nick Gates. These are the two biggest question marks of the summer.

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Giants roster outlook: Upgrades, downgrades or lateral moves on offense

Giants Wire examines the New York Giants offense and the changes made this offseason, offering a verdict on each unit.

The New York Giants are excited about their prospects on offense this season. There’s an interesting mixture of old and new faces converging within the unit.

The team used first-round draft picks on offensive players the last four years and have supplemented those players with other high round picks and select free agents.

Here’s a quick outlook of the Giants’ 2020 offense.

Elsa/Getty Images

Coaches

Gained: Joe Judge, Jason Garrett, Marc Colombo, others

Lost: Pat Shurmur, Mike Shula, Hal Hunter, others

Jason Garrett, a former Giants backup quarterback and head coach of the Dallas Cowboys the past 10 years, is the new offensive coordinator.

Garrett will bring a balance and some semblance of structure to the offensive game plan. He is a creative, aggressive play caller who has both the experience, temperament and talent to turn the Giants into a high-powered, respectable offensive team.

The staff is full of familiar faces: Marc Colombo (offensive line), Tyke Tolbert (wide receivers), Jerry Shuplinski (quarterbacks), Burton Burns (running backs) and Freddie Kitchens (tight ends) bring a legacy of success and experience to the Giants.

Verdict: Substantial upgrade

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2020 Giants training camp preview: Offensive line

Have the New York Giants finally solved their offensive line issues as they head into training camp here in 2020?

The New York Giants may or may not have solved their offensive line issues this offseason through the draft, free agency and a coaching change.

Then again, they may not have. Outside of two staples they have at the guard positions, the rest of the line is fluid at the moment, and with no preseason games and limited practice time in camp, they may not have time to put a cohesive group on the field.

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

What’s new

Joe Judge, the latest consigliere to Bill Belichick in New England takes over as head coach. He knows his life as a first-timer in this league will be difficult so he surrounded himself with a veteran staff, mainly offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who just came off a decade-long stint as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

Garrett adroitly hired Marc Colombo, his offensive line coach in Dallas (where he coached three Pro Bowlers) to the same position here with the Giants. Colombo, a massive, intimidating lineman in his day, knows the ropes and will turn this unit into the band of tough guys Giant fans have been yearning for.

Here are the members of that band general manager Dave Gettleman hopes will make him proud:

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Nate Solder

With the salary cap getting pinched next year, Solder’s $20.5 million cap hit is untenable, so this is his swan song unless the Giants ink him long-term and tear up his current deal. Don’t count on that.

The former Patriot’s game is in decline, which is why the Giants used two of their top three draft picks this year on tackles. Solder is not guaranteed anything as camp nears, so he’ll have to show marked improvement if he is going to be at left tackle again this year.

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Giants greats expect Marc Colombo to coach O-line back to glory

Several New York Giants greats anticipate that Marc Colombo will help coach the offensive line back to glory.

Marc Colombo knows a few things about playing offensive line in the National Football League. He was a first round selection of the Chicago Bears in the 2002 NFL Draft (29th overall) out of Boston College who played 10 years in the league.

The 6-foot-8, 315-pound Colombo went on to be a favorite of Bill Parcells in both Dallas and Miami as a player before becoming an offensive line coach under Jason Garrett in Dallas in 2016.

Garrett is now the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator and has brought Colombo to New Jersey to coach Big Blue’s newly reformed line.

Colombo is well respected around the league and the Giants hope he will raise the culture in the building where new head coach Joe Judge is hellbent on turning things around. Cam Fleming, who the Giants signed as a free agent this spring, played for Columbo in Dallas last season.

“He really does love what he does,” Fleming told the New York Post. “He comes in with so much energy, so much juice every single day, week after week, throughout the whole season. I don’t think there is ever a lull in it for him. He’s just a damn good coach.”

Colombo is also an imposing figure whose physical presence and demeanor will command respect from the players almost immediately. Two former Giant offensive greats, Chris Snee and Shaun O’Hara, both have stories of their encounters with Columbo in the past.

Colombo preceded Snee at Boston College and Snee admitted that Columbo “scared the [expletive] out of him.” Snee has no doubts the Giants’ line will thrive under the former Eagles alum.

“The fact he’s played at a high level and guys, once they hear his message and how he delivers it, I think they’ll buy in right away and they’ll respect that,” Snee said. “That respect will happen right away. He’ll demand that respect and he’ll get it. I do expect this group to get much better. There’s so many coaches and so many guys trying to change the way the game is played, as far as the offensive line goes. But to me, you can’t replace physicality, that requirement. That will be demanded by Marc and he’ll get it.”

“He’s a tough son of a gun,” O’Hara said. “He’s got the Boston accent, he’s got his gruffness, it’s a good fit from a culture standpoint, from a philosophy standpoint, and he’ll be good with those guys.”

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NFC scout offers optimistic take on Giants’ offensive line

An NFC scout recently offered a very optimistic take on the state of the New York Giants’ offensive line.

When Dave Gettleman took over as the New York Giants general manager in late 2017, he vowed a return to the dominating offensive lines of the past. The Giants had won four Super Bowls with a collection of “hog mollies” leading the way in the trenches.

Gettleman immediately sought to upgrade by signing left tackle Nate Solder in free agency and then drafted guard Will Hernandez in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The next offseason, he acquired guard Kevin Zeitler in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade with Cleveland.

This offseason, Gettleman continued his overhaul by using three of his first five draft picks on the offensive line (Andrew Thomas, Matthew Peart and Shane Lemieux), while also signing veteran swing tackle Cam Fleming in free agency.

That has led some critics to re-evaluate the status of the Giants’ line, which has been mired in the bottom half or bottom third of the league the past few years.

“In a short time, this has gone from a bottom-five offensive line that should rank in the top half of the league with a ceiling even higher due to the presence of (first-round pick Andrew) Thomas,” said a former NFC Scout as per SI.com. “In a short time this has gone from a bottom-five offensive line that should rank in the top half of the league with a ceiling even higher due to the presence of Thomas.”

There’s still a lot of tweaking to be done. Guards Hernandez and Zeitler are the only names cemented in going into training camp. The tackle positions are up for grabs with Thomas expected to displace Solder at left tackle at some point which would slide Solder over to the right side to compete with a slew of others, including Fleming, Peart and Nick Gates.

The center role is still very much in flux with Spencer Pulley the only experienced hand on the roster. The Giants intend to pit Lemieux and Gates against Pulley in camp along with last year’s starter, Jon Halapio, who is currently unsigned and rehabbing from an Achilles injury.

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Giants announce jersey numbers for new players

The New York Giants officially announced the jersey numbers of 10 of their newest players.

It’s been slow going as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but the New York Giants have officially announced the signings of 10 players over the past two weeks, including linebacker Blake Martinez and cornerback James Bradberry.

On Monday, the team also assigned those 10 players their new jersey numbers, which are subject to change, so remember that when ordering some new attire.

The new jersey numbers are broken down below:

  • James Bradberry, No. 24
  • Colt McCoy, No. 12
  • Levine Toilolo, No. 83
  • Austin Johnson, No. 93
  • Blake Martinez, No. 54
  • Kyler Fackrell, No. 51
  • Cameron Fleming, No. 75
  • Eric Tomlinson, No. 85
  • Nate Ebner, No. 43
  • Dion Lewis, No. 33

Bradberry recently discussed the importance of wearing No. 24, which had been Josh Norman’s number in Carolina.

“Had 21 been open, I would have chosen 21. But since I was in college, I always thought about wearing 24 so I just went with 24 not thinking about it,” Bradberry told The Athletic of taking Norman’s old number.

“When I actually started thinking about it, it was too late. I had already chosen the number and I didn’t want to go back. People would probably say I was scared to wear that number and I didn’t want that either, so I just took the challenge.”

Interestingly, the No. 44, which linebacker Markus Golden wore last season, has not be reassigned.

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Cam Fleming offers high praise for Giants OL coach Marc Colombo

New Giants OT Cam Fleming had praise for the new OL coach.

The New York Giants announced the signing of offensive lineman Cam Fleming on Thursday, who met with reporters on a conference call to talk about his future in East Rutherford.

One of the biggest reasons Fleming is joining the Giants after spending the last two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys has to do with the team’s new offensive line coach in Marc Colombo, who helped improve Fleming’s career.

A former fourth-round pick with the New England Patriots, Fleming also has a small history with Giants new head coach Joe Judge. Though, he says he doesn’t remember a whole lot from their time together, Fleming had high praise for Colombo.

Coming over from Dallas, along with Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, Colombo was a former first-round pick and has spent the last four seasons working with the Cowboys offensive line—one of the best units in the league.

He was the assistant offensive line coach from 2016–2017 before taking over the unit for the last two seasons starting in 2018. Now running the unit for Big Blue, Fleming is excited to compete for a role where the Giants need it most.

Fleming wasn’t a regular starter for the Cowboys in 2019 but spent most of his time playing left tackle where he spent 239 of his 251 offensive line snaps, per Pro Football Focus. He allowed two sacks and 13 total pressures during the 2019 season (PFF) and will be competing for the starting right tackle position.

Fleming signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Giants this offseason.

The Giants offensive line is a unit that has to get better if the offense as a whole will make strides under Daniel Jones, and one of the incoming free agents had plenty to say about the guy leading the front line.