Life as an NFL journeyman is never easy or fun. But when one has a chance to not only go to a team that’s not only close to home, but which also has a recent teammate and the position coach who helped you have a solid year, that makes things so much easier.
Such is the case for New York Giants offensive lineman Greg Van Roten, a Long Island, New York (Mineola) native who signed with the team this week. The 6-3, 305-pound Van Roten entered the NFL in 2012, signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent out of Penn.
Other than for a stint in 2015-2016 with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, Van Roten is now on his eighth NFL team where, after a solid showing last season for the LAs Vegas Raiders, he is excited to be reunited with Carmen Bricillo, his position coach in LAs Vegas, and Jermaine Eluemunor, his linemate.
“I had the best year of my career with Carm,” Van Roten said this week. “So happy to be back around him. He’s a great X’s and O’s coach–he really does a good job of marrying the run game with the passing game schematically. So, you’re never at a disadvantage as an offensive lineman, so it’s a good system to play in.”
The presence of Bricillo and Eluemunor tipped the scales in the Giants’ favor for the 34-year-old lineman. According to Pro Football Focus, Van Roten posted his highest career grades across the board with the Raiders under Bricillo’s watch, his 21 total pressures in 1,025 offensive snaps (626 pass-blocking snaps) being his lowest total allowed in his career for having played that many snaps.
The expectation for Van Roten is that he will play right guard, the role he played with the Raiders last year, lining up next to Eluemunor at right tackle. But due to injuries at center, Van Roten has been rotating with Austin Schlottman at center on the first-team offensive line while starter John Michael Schmitz deals with a shoulder issue.
“I’ve started at all three positions inside,” Van Roten said about where he felt his best fit was. That’s why I have that value: my versatility. It’s just one of those things where you could put me anywhere, and I can kind of figure it out. I think that’s a big reason why I’m here.”
Although he’s only been here a short time, Van Roten sounded confident that the Giants’ offensive line, which last year allowed a whopping 85 sacks (the second-most in league history since sacks became a tracked stat), would be more effective this year in pass protection.
“I think like a big reason Carm is here is because of that problem,” he said. “I don’t know how many sacks we gave up in Vegas last year (40), but we didn’t have nearly as mobile a quarterback as Daniel (Jones) is.
“So, hopefully, that’ll help a little bit, and then just with kind of making tweaks to technique and system, you want to stay out of those obvious pass situations, and you want to try and not play from behind. So, if you can control games and you can kind of dictate how you want to run plays, you’ll be in a much better situation as a team and position as an offensive line.”
