James Daniels named a free agent the Giants should pursue
It seems that almost every offseason the New York Giants are trying to rebuild their offensive line. While they appear to have one of the five positions down with Andrew Thomas, the rest of the line does not seem very formidable.
To help fix this need, Pro Football Focus suggests that the Giants sign James Daniels.
Daniels was the 20th-ranked guard of the 2021 season with a PFF grade of 71.8 as he anchored a sub-par Chicago Bears offensive line.
The Giants’ handling of their interior offensive line this past offseason was baffling, to say the least, trading for two eventual starters just before the season began. They need to stop with the bandaids and make a big move to solidify the unit for quarterback Daniel Jones or whoever will be under center in 2022.
Daniels will still be just 24 years old in Week 1 and has experience playing at all three spots on the interior. Starting at right guard in 2021, he earned a career-high 72.4 run-blocking grade as Chicago leaned further into an outside-zone rushing attack. Daniels has four straight seasons with grades above 65.0 despite constantly changing positions and with the Bears switching from a predominantly inside-zone scheme to the ever-popular wide-zone system. There may be serious untapped potential here.
Daniels has played four seasons in the NFL and has appeared in 54 games with 48 starts. Most recently in 2021, Daniels finally broke out and demonstrated why he was a top offensive line talent from Iowa as he was able to stay healthy starting all 17 games and “earned a career-high 72.4 run-blocking grade.”
Daniels was also an above-average pass blocker as he recorded a PFF pass-blocking grade of 69.3.
The Giants desperately need someone like Daniels on the line as they were the ninth-worst rushing team in 2021, totaling just 1,688 rushing yards. Giants’ quarterbacks were also sacked 38 times and were under constant pressure, inhibiting the offense’s ability to be explosive.
It’s clear that the Giants need to seriously address the offensive front in this rebuild. With this former Hawkeye, they can attempt to start their rebuild from inside the trenches.
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