The New York Giants’ 2025 training camp is just getting going, and one recent draft pick’s starting job is already under fire.
“[Center] John Michael Schmitz had about 3 errant snaps today, one day after Abdul Carter put him in a blender,” New York Post reporter Ryan Dunleavy relayed on July 25.
Adding: “Pads aren’t on yet. Too early for any determinations. But, as I said before camp started, no jobs should be handed out on draft status this year. Greg Van Roten has [center] experience.”
With how bad the Giants have been in recent years, and a lot of focus and blame falling on the quarterback and offensive tackle position, Schmitz’s struggles have often flown under the radar. But the fact of the matter is that the former second-round pick has been abysmal to start his NFL career.
And now he’s off to another miserable start at training camp with a rookie — albeit a highly skilled one in Carter — embarrassing him early on.
It’s too early to speculate that the 2023 draft pick’s roster spot is in jeopardy, but Dunleavy is 100 percent right in suggesting that his starting job should be up for grabs if his play does not improve.
If Van Roten were to shift over to center, the Giants could start one of Jake Kubas, Aaron Stinnie, Marcus Mbow, Austin Schlottmann, or former first-round pick Evan Neal at right guard.
John Michael Schmitz’s Rough Start at Giants Training Camp Is Nothing New Based on His 2-Year Career
This disastrous start at Giants training camp is unfortunately nothing new for Schmitz. The former Minnesota center entered the NFL with high expectations as one of the top prospects at his position, and he’s failed to live up to them at every turn.
Pro Football Focus charged Schmitz with 5 sacks allowed as a rookie and 6 sacks allowed in year two. He was also responsible for a total of 58 quarterback pressures and 9 penalties, split pretty evenly between the two seasons.
According to PFF, Schmitz showed improvement as a run-blocker in 2024, raising his run-blocking grade from 51.3 as a rookie to 67.0 last year, but those marks are still only average at best, and “JMS” has been awful as a pass protector.
Like Neal, Schmitz was drafted to stabilize and anchor this offensive line for years to come. Unfortunately, both prospects have looked like total misses at this stage of their respective careers.
Giants GM Joe Schoen’s Track Record of Drafting Offensive Linemen Is Going From Bad to Worse
The Giants didn’t draft many offensive linemen in 2025, despite it profiling as a position of need at the start of the offseason. Instead, general manager Joe Schoen continued to fortify the blocking unit in free agency for the second straight year, and perhaps there’s a reason for that.
Schoen’s track record of drafting offensive linemen has been downright atrocious so far.
Mbow is a rookie, so we’ll leave him out of this discussion for now. But besides the newcomer, here are Schoen’s draft picks on the OL from 2022 through 2024:
- Evan Neal (2022 first-rounder).
- Joshua Ezeudu (2022 third-rounder).
- Marcus McKethan (2022 fifth-rounder), *off roster.*
- John Michael Schmitz (2023 second-rounder).
- None in 2024.
To be fair, Kubas appears to be a nice undrafted gem that Schoen and his staff have uncovered, but the actual draft picks have all been horrendous, with Schmitz being the latest example.
For a team like the Giants, which has struggled with offensive line play since their Super Bowl days, that is a big, big problem.
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