With the 99th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Giants are sticking with another Hog Molly, selecting UConn OT Matt Peart.
A Bronx native, Peart knows exactly what football means in the Big Apple. Peart joins Georgia's Andrew Thomas on the offensive line.
At 6-7, 318 pounds, Peart is a physical specimen who needs some work regarding his technique and fundamentals. However, scouts like how high his ceiling is if he gets the right coaching. Down the road, the Giants could be hoping he projects to be a starter.
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Dave Gettleman vowed on Thursday night that he planned to "fix the offensive line, once and for all."
Apparently he wasn't kidding.
The Dance of the Elephants, as the late George Young used to call it, continued on Friday as the Giants took their second offensive tackle in their first three picks. Gettleman drafted UConn tackle Matt Peart, a 6-7, 318-pounder who grew up in the Bronx, with the Giants' third-round pick, 99th overall.
It's another pick that won't be exciting for the fans, but it reinforces what Gettleman promised he would do. He is trying to fix the offensive line, which has been his greatest failure in his two years as the Giants' general manager. He got his left tackle of the future in the first round, when he drafted Georgia's Andrew Thomas fourth overall. Peart now will be the other bookend, protecting quarterback Daniel Jones.
Unlike Thomas, Peart probably won't start right away. He needs to bulk up a bit, according to scouts, but his athleticism is impressive, as are his long arms. And the Giants have time. They have veteran tackles Nate Solder and Cam Fleming on the roster, and obviously know they have Thomas. They won't need Peart to push his way into the starting lineup until at least 2021.
And when he does, the Giants will have him and Thomas at the tackles and Will Hernandez and Kevin Zeitler at guards. All they have to do now is figure out who their center of the future will be. But even with that hole there, the line all of a sudden looks a heck of a lot better than when Gettleman took over.
That's because he's finally committed draft capital to this position. In his first two drafts, he only drafted two offensive linemen, and one was a seventh-rounder who is no longer on the roster. It may have taken Gettleman until his third draft to really commit to his Hog Molly philosophy, but he is rightfully all-in now.