The New York Giants have invested heavily in the offensive line over the past few years, but they haven’t really seen any dividends from those investments yet. After drafting three offensive linemen in the 2020 NFL Draft and hiring new offensive line coach Marc Colombo, the Giants are hoping to finally make a shift in their rebuilding of the offensive line.
And despite entering his third year as an NFL player, left guard Will Hernandez is the Giants’ longest-serving starter. When speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, Hernandez made it clear that he takes this responsibility seriously. He also made it clear that the offensive line as a whole understands its responsibility towards the rest of the offense.
“The offensive line has a big role in our success [as an offense], you know, we proudly take on the workload, ”Hernandez said. “We will be proud to get down to work and get things done. And we know that it starts with us, and we’ll definitely do whatever it takes to make it happen and get there.
In all likelihood, the Giants will have a pair of new starters on their offensive line this season. With Nate Solder’s decision to step down from the 2020 season, the Giants will be counting on Andrew Thomas and Nick Gates to fill two of the positions in their line.
We don’t know where Gates will play, but the recent expansion he received likely confirms the Giants’ intentions to see him start somewhere on their line. Hernandez spent time training with Gates in the spring and summer and was not shy about expressing his confidence in Gates regardless of the position.
“Yeah, me and Nick Gates spent a lot of time training together in the offseason,” Hernandez said. “We’re both from Las Vegas, Nevada, really good friends. You know, so yeah, we continued the offseason and I always thought he was a great player. I always thought he had what it takes to play. As far as where he goes, if he lines up next to me [at center], or one of the other spots, honestly I just think Nick Gates can play any place on the line. He’s good enough to play anywhere on that offensive line.
Whether Gates lines up in the center or in the right tackle, it is almost certain that Hernandez will have a new player next to him in the left tackle. The Giants didn’t draft Andrew Thomas in fourth place overall for him to sit on, and it would be a surprise for him to line up anywhere other than the left tackle.
“First,” Hernandez said, “he’s a great guy, and you can see you can really sing, he has a voice. He’s a really smart guy. You know, he understands right away, he takes over a lot of things that the coach tells him about. He’s able to absorb it and get it back right away, which in my opinion is great. He’s just behaving like this. You can see it through his note taking, through his practices. He wants to get better, he wants to do good, you know, and that’s just a few of the things I’ve seen watching him lately. And you know I think it’s gonna be [good]. I think he will be fine and he is doing very well at the moment.
And how does he know Thomas has a good voice? Well, he blackmailed it, of course.
“I took him up there for the rookie song, but I can’t remember the name of the song yet. All I knew was it was good, I snapped my fingers all the time. It was a good song.
Hernandez wants to do his part to help Thomas reach his potential. He pointed out that having Solder next to him as a rookie helped him when he entered the league, and he wants to pass that on to Thomas.
Hernandez said: “It really seems like yesterday I was a rookie and behind Nate and now maybe I get the chance to do the same. All i will say about it [the starting left tackle position] that is, I don’t know who is going to line up for this position, I’m leaving that to the coaches.
“But with regard to [mentor next to him], you know, I learned from the best, ”added Hernandez. “Nate Solder really taught me a lot on and off the pitch, but you know he subconsciously taught me how to treat a rookie. I thought I was treated by him with the utmost respect, attention to detail and wanting to help me get better. And it’s just all of these things that I picked up and looked back on now and it’s the same, that I would instill in anyone who was brand new coming to play next to me. I would take a lot of the same things he did with me and add my own personality to it, but I certainly learned a lot about a lot of Nate’s precious things.
On new offensive line coach Marc Colombo
When the Giants hired former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to be their new offensive coordinator, he brought in offensive line coach Marc Colombo with him from Dallas. Colombo himself is a former offensive lineman, having played 10 years in the NFL, and Hernandez having a coach who has been there and has done this is a rare privilege for Giants linemen.
“You know,” Hernandez said, “it’s great to have someone who’s been there to do that. Over ten years to play, so he certainly has a lot of inside information, as a player himself, that he can pass on to us. And as far as being there with us, he’s one of us, one of the guys, you know? Of course you separate that, the title, you know when he’s a coach, he coaches, you’ve got that line of respect.
“But it’s cool to have someone who’s very similar to everyone in this room and understands that, just ‘gets it’ and that’s something any offensive lineman appreciates. A guy who understands you is a very unique position. You don’t meet too many offensive linemen, there aren’t too many offensive linemen [coaching], it is a unique position. And then having someone who performed there certainly helps us a lot and we really really like having them here.
Hernandez’s excitement about working with Colombo is evident in his voice. And everyone involved is certainly hopeful that Colombo can help Hernandez take the next step in his development. Hernandez didn’t take the step forward in his second year that many expected, but he’s more focused on progress in 2020 than what happened in 2019.
He said, “I mean regarding last year, what’s in the past and what’s in the past. I have grown a lot since then. I really focused on this new attack, new techniques, just a new attitude for everything.
I think we’ve improved a lot since the offseason, and I think, at least me personally, I was able to sort of pick up on a lot of things that were wrong or that I didn’t do the best I could. could, and I was able to correct them. And now I’m just focused on the future of what I’m doing now.
He added that he had tried to use the team’s losses over the past two years as motivation and to learn from the mistakes of the past and re-evaluate his process to focus everything on improvement and victory.
“I think a more appropriate word than ‘affected me’, I think that motivated me. You know, it got me that every little thing that I do now is geared towards winning, towards’ how is that going to help me win, yeah or no? No? okay, I don’t.
“So I feel like everything I do now, whether it’s on or off the pitch, I’m doing it or not for the sake of winning.
“It was just a lot of things that I achieved through experience,” he added, “through things that I did. And so I was kind of learning and learning and learning all the mistakes that we all make, and learning from those mistakes. I mean the motive has always been the same, but I think more than anything I’ve done, I’ve learned from my own mistakes. That same wanting to win factor was still there, but now it’s like ‘Okay, I can’t make these mistakes again because I still want to win.’ ‘
