One of the teams considered to be a possible landing spot for free-agent offensive tackle Eugene Monroe, the Seattle Seahawks, is reportedly not signing Monroe as of now. The New York Giants apparently remain interested in the 29-year-old.
Monroe reportedly recently turned down the Giants, who want him to play right tackle. He also apparently turned down offers to play right tackle from the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.
ESPN’s John Clayton had said several days ago that it appeared the Seahawks were the only team currently in the market for a left tackle. If Monroe isn’t going to Seattle, perhaps that is a signal that he is willing to wait until training camp to see if any other left tackle opening develop.
While the Giants have investigated the tackle market throughout the offseason — flirting with Russell Okung and Donald Penn in free agency — they have not seemed as as concerned about using Marshall Newhouse at right tackle as much of the fan base appears to be.
Dan Graziano of ESPN summarized the right tackle situation in a manner with which I agree.
... the Giants do like Marshall Newhouse, their current right tackle, more than a lot of fans seem to. Newhouse is a good guy who knows the offense and, Giants coaches believe, can handle the job of right tackle if they don't find an upgrade. They also like 2015 first-round draft pick Ereck Flowers as their left tackle, both now and going forward. So if they were to sign Monroe, they wouldn't be promising him a starting tackle job. They'd be bringing in a guy who's missed 15 games the past two years for health reasons and adding him to the training camp mix to see whether he could help. Personally, I assume he'd be better than Newhouse, but I don't know about "significant." I don't know how healthy he is or whether he'd be able to hold up all year. The Giants don't either, and for that reason they're not likely to over-commit just to bring him in. It's possible another team wants him more than they do, and it's likely worth his time to see whether someone will pay more than the Giants will pay.
As for the second question -- whether Monroe and others like him would cross the Giants off their list of potential destination because they insist on Flowers as left tackle and would force them to have to play right -- I kind of doubt that players at this point in the market can be that picky. My understanding is that Monroe would prefer to play left tackle somewhere but that he's open to either and understands that he may not have a choice if he wants to keep playing. The Giants are not under the impression that he has ruled them out but they have made it clear that their intention is to keep Flowers on the left side. So it's entirely possible he's waiting to see whether someone else will offer him a left tackle job before finally deciding whether to take the Giants' offer of a chance at a right tackle job.
Where signing Monroe, or anyone else, to play right tackle would help the Giants the most is in the area of depth. It would allow them to put Newhouse back in the swing tackle role for which he was originally signed. Currently, the Giants don’t really have a clear choice to be that swing tackle.