HEADLINES

Shane Lemieux

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/1/22

September 1st, 2022 at 6:08pm CST by Ben Levine

Teams continue to tinker with their rosters after hundreds of players were cut earlier this week. We’ve tracked all of today’s minor moves below:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC East

August 31st, 2022 at 2:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles and Giants moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Dallas Cowboys

Signed to practice squad:

New York Giants

Signed:

Released:

Claimed:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Philadelphia Eagles

Claimed: 

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Washington Commanders

Released:

Claimed:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Latest On Giants’ Shane Lemieux

August 26th, 2022 at 8:05pm CST by Adam La Rose

Shane Lemieux was limited to just one game last season, and injuries have once again become a problem before the 2022 campaign has begun. The Giants’ o-lineman will not play in Week 1, as confirmed by head coach Brian Daboll (Twitter link via Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano). 

Worse still, Daboll also said that “I wouldn’t anticipate him anytime soon.” That is unfortunate news for the Giants, given Lemieux’s projected role as the team’s starting left guard. It is also, of course, a disappointing development from the 25-year-old’s perspective, given his recent past.

Lemieux underwent season-ending knee surgery last September, which dealt a serious blow to New York’s offensive line. The unit as a whole was ravaged by injury, and struggled throughout the season. The Oregon alum has made just 13 appearances across his first two years in the league, though 10 of those have been starts. He earned a PFF grade of just 32 as a rookie, but has done enough in practices since to maintain a first-team position.

This latest issue stems from a foot injury the fifth-rounder suffered during the team’s first preseason contest. The fact that he has already been ruled out for the regular season opener points to an IR stint being possible; in that event, he would miss at least the first four games of the campaign. That is already the case for tackles Matt Peart and Nick Gates.

Third-round rookie Joshua Ezeudu and 2021 trade acquisition Ben Bredeson are among the candidates to replace Lemieux, both of whom are dealing with injuries of their own. In any event, the Giants will once again be without an offensive starter for at least a few weeks.

OL Notes: Giants, Radunz, Steelers, Brunskill

May 28th, 2022 at 11:02am CST by Sam Robinson

After fielding another below-average offensive line last season, one that saw key injuries reconfigure it early on in the campaign, the Giants loaded up on blockers this offseason. Newcomers Evan Neal, Mark Glowinski and Jon Feliciano are projected to start at right tackle, right guard and center, respectively. Andrew Thomas is the team’s unquestioned left tackle. That leaves left guard as the top competition area. Holdover Shane Lemieux appears to be the favorite for that job, via NJ.com’s Zack Rosenblatt, who notes the third-year player has been a full participant despite coming off a patellar tendon tear that cost him 16 games last season. Lemieux, who started down the stretch for the 2020 Giants and has received the first reps with the starters thus far, attempted to play through the severe knee injury in Week 1 but ended up missing the season’s remainder.

The Joe Schoen–Brian Daboll regime, however, brought in third-round pick Joshua Ezeudu (North Carolina). Although Max Garcia arrived this offseason as well, Rosenblatt adds the Giants view the eighth-year veteran as more of a backup. This sets up a Lemieux-Ezeudu left guard battle, one that will determine if the Giants have three or four new starters up front.

Here is the latest from the NFL’s O-line scene:

  • The Titans lost two starters from their 2021 O-line — left guard Rodger Saffold and stopgap right tackle David Quessenberry — and are aiming to plug in former second-round pick Dillon Radunz. The North Dakota State product, who made just one start as a rookie, is vying for the team’s right tackle gig but also factors into the guard mix, Jim Wyatt of Titans.com offers. Radunz, chosen a year after would-be right tackle Isaiah Wilson became a quick bust, was a full-timer for the Bison from 2018-19 but lost the 2020 season due to the pandemic. The Titans used a third-round pick on Ohio State’s Nicholas Petit-Frere, representing another right tackle option. Third-year UDFA Aaron Brewer and ex-Seahawk Jamarco Jones are on the roster as left guard candidates.
  • Daniel Brunskill has started 35 straight regular-season games for the 49ers, slotting primarily at right guard. The fourth-year veteran has shown an ability to fill in at all five O-line spots, and Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle notes the 49ers would prefer Brunskill as a super-sub rather than as the full-time starter. For this reality to unfold, the team would need a viable replacement. Jaylon Moore, a 2021 fifth-round pick who has moved inside from tackle, represents competition for the 49ers’ right guard position. Given Brunskill’s experience, benching him would be quite the gamble for a team that lost five-year left guard Laken Tomlinson in free agency and looks set to lose center Alex Mack to retirement.
  • Steelers newcomers James Daniels and Mason Cole look set to play right guard and center, respectively, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo, leaving a competition between two 2021 starters at left guard. The Steelers following through on the rumored move of center Kendrick Green to guard, his primary college position, has created a competition between he and Kevin Dotson — a 13-game starter through two years. Pro Football Focus graded Dotson well as a rookie, albeit in a small sample size, but an ankle injury doomed his sophomore NFL season. Green started 15 games last year; PFF graded the rookie third-rounder as one of the league’s worst centers. Given a three-year, $15.75MM deal, Cole coming to Pittsburgh has led to Green’s position switch.

Giants G Shane Lemieux Out For Season

September 22nd, 2021 at 7:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

Days after losing Nick Gates for the year, the Giants have received word one of their other starting interior O-linemen is done for 2021 as well. Shane Lemieux underwent knee surgery Wednesday, and the procedure is expected to knock him out for the season.

The Giants announced the second-year blocker had left patellar tendon surgery. Patellar tendon issues represent one of the toughest injury obstacles to overcome, so this puts a stop sign on Lemieux’s early ascent as a pro.

A fifth-round pick last year, Lemieux moved into the Giants’ starting lineup midway through his rookie season. While Pro Football Focus did not view his rookie-year work positively, Lemieux was ticketed to join Will Hernandez as a starting guard this year and did suit up for Big Blue’s Week 1 game. But the knee injury Lemieux suffered early in training camp did not allow him to finish the team’s opener. The Giants then placed Lemieux on IR last week.

With Lemieux and Gates out, the Giants used recent trade acquisitions Billy Price and Ben Bredeson alongside Hernandez on the interior. The unit delivered mixed results in a Week 2 loss in Washington. The Giants are now trying third-round pick Matt Peart, who lost this year’s right tackle competition to Nate Solder, at guard, Darryl Slater of NJ.com notes. Bredeson is still set to start at left guard Sunday, however.

Given New York’s years-long troubles on its front, even when it was at full strength, the Gates and Lemieux setbacks represent a crisis point for the franchise. The Giants are 0-2 for a fifth straight season, and multiple O-linemen who were elsewhere a month ago — Price in Cincinnati, Bredeson in Baltimore — will be given emergency responsibilities.

Giants Place G Shane Lemieux On IR

September 16th, 2021 at 3:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

The knee injury Shane Lemieux suffered in late July has continued to plague him, and the Giants will give the young guard time to recover. They placed Lemieux on IR Thursday.

Inserted into the Giants’ starting lineup after Will Hernandez‘s COVID-19 contraction last year, Lemieux did not give up the job the rest of the way. After New York released Kevin Zeitler this offseason, Lemieux and Hernandez started in Week 1. Surgery may be in the cards for Lemieux, though that is not yet certain. The 2020 fifth-round pick playing again this season would be a surprise, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

[RELATED: Giants Promote Matt Skura]

Lemieux’s injury will force the Giants to get creative on their offensive line. They are set to start recent trade acquisition Billy Price at center and slide Nick Gates to left guard, Raanan notes. Such a promotion occurring in Week 2, which features a short week and a trip to Washington, will represent a stiff challenge for Price. The former first-round pick could not stick in the Bengals’ lineup, despite the team’s lofty investment, and was traded to the Giants for a late-round pick.

Lemieux could not make it through the first half against the Broncos, playing only 17 snaps. Ben Bredeson, the other O-line trade acquisition the Giants made ahead of the season, replaced him in the lineup. But the ex-Raven is set to return to a reserve role tonight.

Considering the issues the Giants had up front with their starting five available over the past several weeks, the team needing to make changes ahead of a Thursday road tilt is certainly bad news. The Giants are looking to avoid an 0-2 start for the first time since 2016.

Giants Met With Austin Reiter

August 1st, 2021 at 12:01pm CST by Rory Parks

The Giants brought in a veteran O-lineman yesterday, signing 30-year-old blocker Joe Looney. Yesterday morning, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reported that free agent center Austin Reiter was expected to visit with Big Blue “in the coming days” (Twitter link).

However, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that Reiter has already met with the Giants, and that the Looney acquisition has closed the door on a Reiter signing, at least for the time being. Looney could supplant Nick Gates at the pivot, thereby shifting Gates to guard, or he could serve as guard depth himself. With Reiter having worked almost exclusively at center in his career, it would certainly seem that there is no room for him with the Giants at this point.

A seventh-round pick of the Washington Football Team in 2016, Reiter eventually caught on with the Chiefs and settled into a role as Patrick Mahomes‘ snapper over the past two seasons. But Kansas City let him hit the open market this offseason and then added Austin Blythe in free agency and Creed Humphrey in the draft. Reiter has recently met with the Bengals and Texans, so he could be on the verge of finding a new home even without the Giants in the picture.

In other Giants OL news, left guard Shane Lemieux recently sustained a knee injury that will sideline him for a couple of weeks. Luckily, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, the second-year pro will not require surgery and should be on track for the start of the regular season. Given that Lemieux was carted off the field when he suffered the injury, that comes as a big relief for New York.