1st-Round Pick Wants to Return to Giants at Key Position

Fixing a dire offensive line will be an ongoing process for the New York Giants, and it might involve welcoming back Justin Pugh. The versatile blocker who was a first-round pick for the Giants in the 2013 NFL draft wants to return to MetLife Stadium after last season’s brief comeback.

Pugh appeared on “The Zach Gelb Show” and discussed his appetite for playing again in 2024. The 33-year-old explained how his next destination needs to be “a place that I’m familiar with, a place that I’m comfortable with. I probably would say that place is the New York Giants if I were to come back and play this year.”

While he has other options, notably another former team, the Arizona Cardinals, Pugh said “the New York Giants are really the team I have circled on my shortlist.” Significantly, Pugh also made it clear left guard “is the position I want to play.”

Having extra bodies along the interior would help, since doubts persist about Evan Neal’s availability and talent, along with a recent injury scare for Jermaine Eluemunor.

Giants Need More Options Up Front

Finding the right balance up front is the challenge facing the Giants after they surrendered a league-high 85 sacks last season. That unenviable statistic is why Big Blue raided the free agent market to sign versatile interior linemen Jon Runyan Jr. and Eluemunor.

The latter has been ticketed to play in Pugh’s preferred spot, but Eluemunor required treatment before having to leave the field at practice on Wednesday, July 24. A scary collision with All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II laid Eluemunor low.

Eluemunor later posted a message on X to say “I’m good.”

Running into Lawrence left Eluemunor with bruised ribs, but head coach Brian Daboll confirmed it’s “nothing serious” so the O-lineman will resume “individual drills,” per Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

Eluemunor had been playing right tackle, so his availability is great news for the Giants and their lingering Neal problem.

Justin Pugh Can Help With Evan Neal Fix

Neal’s struggles since being drafted seventh overall in 2022 have hamstrung the Giants’ front five. The problem hasn’t gone away, despite coaches continuing to keep faith in the former Alabama linchpin.

Maybe the faith is beginning to ebb after Eluemunor was moved into Neal’s spot to start camp. Granted, Neal is on the PUP list, but as Duggan put it, “On Day 1 of camp, with Neal supposedly not ‘far off’ from returning, they moved Eluemunor to RT and wouldn’t commit to Neal getting the job back when healthy.”

Eluemunor starting at right tackle opens up a spot at left guard. A spot Pugh could fill after he made 12-straight starts to finish the last campaign.

Pugh endured his share of struggles, being credited by Pro Football Focus with allowing eight sacks and 37 pressures. Yet the veteran’s experience and versatility are still valuable tools, evidenced by Pugh playing 527 snaps at left guard and a further 236 at left tackle.

Even granting Pugh a role as a swing backup would allow new line coach Carmen Bricillo greater freedom to reshuffle the deck to cope with injuries or in search of the optimum combination.

The ideal grouping probably doesn’t contain Neal, at least not at the starting level, so there’s room for another Pugh comeback.