Biggest winner, loser of New York Giants offseason

The New York Giants set out this offseason to add pieces to an offense that was the team’s Achilles heel in 2016. They have done that in a variety of ways. Now that the bulk of the roster shuffling has been done, let’s look at the biggest winner and loser among the holdovers from last season.

Winner - Ereck Flowers

Throughout the offseason the message from much of the Giants’ fan base has been loud and clear — many do not want Ereck Flowers to be the left tackle in 2017, under any circumstances. Move him to right tackle. Move him to guard. Move him to the bench. Move him to Siberia! Just, for the love of Eli Manning, do not let him be Manning’s blind side protector again!

Well, it is readily apparent that Flowers isn’t going anywhere this season. Flowers doesn’t appear to be penciled in at left tackle, more like engraved in big, bold letters. There isn’t anyone on the roster right now who even looks like competition for the 2015 first-round pick.

The way the market played out, the Giants really didn’t have much choice.

In free agency, the Giants chose — smartly, I believe — not to pay exorbitant prices for underwhelming talent. All they did was swap D.J. Fluker for Marshall Newhouse on a one-year, $3 million deal. Fluker isn’t a left tackle.

In the draft, the consensus best left tackle — Garett Bolles — wasn’t available to them at 23. They could have selected Ryan Ramcyzk or Cam Robinson, but neither is a lock to be a Week 1 improvement over Flowers. The Giants did add Adam Bisnowaty in the sixth round, but if he is playing left tackle for the Giants in 2017 one of three things has likely happened:

1. Flowers has gotten hurt
2. The Giants have been unable to add a veteran swing tackle like Ryan Clady or King Dunlap
3. The Giants have decided not to move Justin Pugh to left tackle on a temporary basis

So, Flowers looks almost certain to get one more chance to prove he can be at least an adequate NFL left tackle.

Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports

Loser — Will Tye

I asked this question earlier in my 53-man roster projection, but what, exactly is Tye going to do for this team?

Tye started 10 games, led Giants tight ends with 48 receptions (third on the team) and his 681 snaps played were 263 more than Jerell Adams and the now-departed Larry Donnell combined.

Yet, the Giants made it obvious this offseason that getting better at tight end was a priority in their effort to improve an offense that wasn’t good enough last year.

The Giants gave Rhett Ellison a four-year, $18 million free-agent contract ($8 million guaranteed) to handle the blocking aspects of the job. They drafted Evan Engram in the first round to be the seam-busting receiving option they didn’t believe they had.

The Giants also have a draft pick in Adams they are invested in, and a guy in Matt LaCosse they’ve kept around for two years waiting for him to be healthy.

So, where does that leave Tye? Right now, that looks like a good question.

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