Starting left guard Jon Runyan Jr. believes the Giants have “one of the best defensive lines in the league.” So Runyan and the Giants’ offensive line didn’t have to look far for motivation this training camp.
“I think we kind of made it a point this year,” Runyan Jr. told the Daily News Monday. “Everybody talks about how good this D-Line’s gonna be. I mean yeah, that’s good for the team. But we’re also gonna be a good O-Line this year.
“So we’re just going out there to prove to ourselves and everybody else that we can be the best we want to be,” he said. “This offensive and defensive line unit is gonna take the team as far as it goes. So on both sides of the ball, we take pride in that.”
Maybe it was that rallying cry. Maybe it was the players getting tired of practicing without pads. Whatever the offensive line used as fuel on Monday, it worked.
In the Giants’ first padded practice of 2025, Brian Daboll‘s offensive line turned in one of the more impressive practices a front five has had in East Rutherford, N.J., in quite some time — and they did it without starting left tackle Andrew Thomas, who remains on the physically unable to perform list.
“I think today the offensive line probably won,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said. “But who’s to say the D-line won’t win tomorrow?”
Not that the offense was perfect. Far from it.
Daboll blew up at the entire offense, actually, due to repeated false starts by backup tackle Josh Ezeudu and reserve tight ends Thomas Fidone II and Jermaine Terry II.
But the Giants’ offensive linemen acquitted themselves well during 1-on-1s against the team’s pass rushers, with backup center Austin Schlottmann and reserve guard Jake Kubas faring especially well.
Then the front five ran the ball effectively and won more battles than they lost in the trenches during the 11-on-11 full-team periods with rookie running back Cam Skattebo getting significant first-team work.
“You can kind of sense that,” Runyan said of the O-Line tilting the practice its way. “I feel like we were opening up some good holes, we had good pass protection. Finally getting the pads on, it’s a little different when we’re not wearing pads and the defense can kind of grab our jerseys a little bit and throw us around. [With the pads on] the jerseys are getting tight, and it gets a little more physical.”
The starting offense finished the day with three runs to gain 10 yards and a first down in the final competitive period on two carries by Skattebo and one by Tracy. Center John Michael Schmitz stood up after the final run and pointed emphatically to move the chains.
“It’s always good to finish the day like that,” Eluemunor said. “It’s a competitive period. Whoever wins that drill basically wins the day and so the offense got to win today. I’m sure the defense is going to come fired up tomorrow and try to win the day, too.”
The defense, to be clear, is a bit handcuffed at the moment. Daboll is not allowing them to tackle ball-carriers to the ground yet. Star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence also had his reps limited on the first day in pads.
Skattebo, Tracy and Devin Singletary all had runs for big gains through gaping holes in the line, though. Schlottmann helped spring one Skattebo scamper with the twos. Schmitz buried middle linebacker Bobby Okereke out in space on screen pass.
Wide receiver Lil’ Jordan Humphrey cracked back with a crushing block on rookie edge Abdul Carter. Greg Van Roten and Evan Neal each chipped in while rotating at right guard.
And left tackle James Hudson III played like a perpetually lit fuse, angrily burying Kayvon Thibodeaux to the ground to nearly set off the first fight of camp.
Hudson probably crosses the line too often — like during his spring OTA fist fight with Brian Burns — but the tackle’s aggressiveness also feels contagious.
“I played with James at college about two years when he was at Michigan, so being united with him has been really fun,” Runyan said. “He’s always been that guy to always toe the line like that. He went a little too far during OTAs, but that’s just kind of the edge that he plays with. And I feel like we as an O-Line and offense kind of feed off of that.”
Runyan is a welcome sight on the field, as well. He told the Daily News that he underwent surgery on his right ankle in December, and he spent 90% of the offseason here in New Jersey rehabbing with the Giants‘ Ronnie Barnes, Phil Buzzerio and Justin Maher in the training room.
The rehab was a “slow progression at first” that kept him out of team drills for most of the spring, but he feels great now and has handled a full workload right out of the gate in camp.
“In the Saints game [on Dec. 8], I went down with a pretty bad high ankle sprain, needed surgery [in December],” Runyan said. “That’s in the past now. I took my time in OTAs to get ready. And the goal was to be ready by camp. That’s where I’m at now. I feel good and ready to go. It feels like normal.”
Skattebo, the rookie fourth-round pick, definitely seems to add some punch to the Giants’ running game.
Daboll excitedly said before practice that he was “looking forward to watching him run today.”
Runyan shared his coach’s enthusiasm for what Skattebo can do, whether the offense is backed up against his own goal line, in the red zone or in short yardage.
“We need those nasty yards,” Runyan said. “I think we’ll be able to count on him to get those.”
The defense will only give the offense so much credit.
Burns complimented Skattebo for having “a little dog” in him as a “tough” runner, for example. But the veteran edge rusher noted the defenders aren’t allowed to tackle anyone yet. So there’s an asterisk.
“When they get thudded up and they keep dropping their legs and ‘dah duh dah’ … everybody can’t hit you. We have to let you keep running,” Burns said with a smile. “So, ‘You got it, it’s okay. You got it. Show me in preseason.’”
Showing it on Monday was a great start for the Skattebo and the offense, though. Especially for the offensive line.
Because as Runyan said: as they go, this team goes.
PLAY OF THE DAY
Corner Art Green made an incredible one-handed interception of a deep Jameis Winston pass intended for wide receiver Jordan Bly during the 11-on-11 team period. That marked the second impressive Giants one-handed catch with a left hand in two days. Wide receiver Darius Slayton hauled in a ridiculous one-handed catch on a deep throw down the left sideline from Russell Wilson on Sunday.
THIN AT RECEIVER
Wide receivers Wan’Dale Robinson and Da’Quan Felton did not practice on Monday. Jalin Hyatt only did individual drills, which kept him out of team drills for a third straight practice. And Bryce Ford-Wheaton tore his Achilles on Monday.
So the Giants look pretty thin at receiver at the moment.
Robinson’s injury is “nothing serious,” Daboll said, but the Giants held their starting slot receiver out of Monday’s practice to be smart after Robinson took a Dane Belton knee to the thigh on Sunday.
That came only two days after Robinson’s big practice collision with Burns on Friday.
Burns, fortunately, was a full participant on Monday.
“I was in a lot of pain,” Burns said. “But after we got the scans and everything, it was all good. Everything was all good.”
Second-string corner Tre Hawkins, meanwhile, stepped off to the side with trainers during practice and seemed to be sidelined thereafter.
The Giants’ response to Ford-Wheaton’s special teams loss was to re-sign punt returner Gunner Olszewski, who played 10 games for the Giants in 2023 and spent all of last season on injured reserve.
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