Giants' depth suffers after placing OL on IR

The Giants are down yet another offensive lineman. The Giants have placed offensive tackle Joshua Ezeudu on injured reserve, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. Ezeudu suffered a toe injury during Sunday’s loss to the Bills.

The 2022 third-round pick found himself starting for the Giants at left tackle after Andrew Thomas went down with a hamstring injury. After starting two of his 10 appearances as a rookie, Ezeudu has already started five of his six appearances in 2023. 

Pro Football Focus hasn’t been very fond of his performance, ranking him 71st among 74 qualifying offensive tackles, but his injury will still force the Giants to dig deeper into their OL depth.

Ezeudu’s exit from Sunday night’s game forced the Giants to play Justin Pugh at LT despite the veteran only having six career snaps at the position. Pugh was elevated from the practice squad with the expectation that he’d chip in at left guard, but Ezeudu’s injury changed those plans. 

It’s uncertain if Pugh is indeed the organization’s top healthy option at LT or if he was merely an emergency, in-game solution.

The Giants were busy adding some depth at the position Tuesday. According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, the team has signed offensive lineman Josh Miles off the Falcons’ practice squad. The former seventh-round pick saw time in 17 games with the Cardinals between the 2019 and 2021 seasons.

Raanan also reports that the Giants have snagged lineman Tyre Phillips off the Eagles’ practice squad. The lineman actually started five of his 12 appearances for the Giants in 2022 and was a surprise cut back in August. The former third-round pick started 13 of his 22 appearances with the Ravens to begin his career.