dpRegret is a funny thing. Sometimes it hits immediately. Other times, it takes a little longer to realize you might’ve made a mistake. For the New York Giants, six weeks might be all it takes to start questioning one of their 2026 first-round picks.
The Giants have spent what feels like an eternity trying to put together an offensive line that doesn’t make watching football a weekly hair-pulling event. Different coaches, different players, different approaches. Somehow, we’re still seemingly having the same conversations every season.
This year was supposed to be different. Big Blue traded Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 pick in the 2026 Draft, which they used on Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa. The 21-year-old was supposed to bring some big-bodied nastiness to the trenches, even if it meant sliding him inside to right guard after spending his college career at tackle.
Six weeks into the season, the transition hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. And with another first-round offensive lineman taken just four picks after Sisi already looking like a future superstar, it’s fair to wonder whether the Giants might’ve overthought this one.
Giants’ Francis Mauigoa gamble looks worse with every Vega Ioane snap
The Baltimore Ravens selected Penn State guard Vega Ioane with the 14th pick, and through six weeks, the 22-year-old has been everything New York hoped Mauigoa would be.
Ioane has a 69.6 overall Pro Football Focus grade, ranking 21st among 76 qualified guards. His 73.2 run-blocking grade ranks 17th, and he’s even moved over to center after Baltimore’s plans blew up due to injuries.
Meanwhile, Mauigoa has had a considerably rougher start. His 46.1 overall grade ranks 75th among 77 guards, with a 49.7 run-blocking grade (69th) and a 39.1 pass-blocking grade (70th). He’s also allowed 13 pressures and four quarterback hits.
And that’s where I (begrudgingly) start to question Big Blue’s thought process.
Mauigoa started 42 games at right tackle for Miami. The G-Men took him 10th overall, knowing they’d be asking him to switch positions, while the best guard in the draft was still available.
Ioane, meanwhile, spent his entire college career playing guard, going his last two seasons at Penn State without allowing a single sack. He’s now helping pave the way for the Ravens, and his 83.1 zone-blocking grade is the highest recorded by a rookie offensive lineman since 2014.
It’s not like the Giants couldn’t have used that kind of production, either. New York is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry, and the interior offensive line has been a big reason why. Jon Runyan Jr. (who they gave a two-year, $22 million extension in the offseason) has played terribly at left guard, while John Michael Schmitz has already lost his starting center job to Bryan Hudson.
To be fair, Sisi is still 21 and learning a new position against bigger, stronger, faster defensive tackles. I’m not about to write him off — and you shouldn’t either — six games into his young career, especially after watching Andrew Thomas overcome his own rough rookie season six years ago. If the struggles persist, then we can start name-dropping Evan Neal and Ereck Flowers, but not yet. Get outta here with that nonsense.
Still, that doesn’t mean New York’s decision-making should get a free pass.
The G-Men traded their best player and defensive cornerstone for the tenth pick, then used it on a tackle they planned to turn into a guard. Four picks later, Baltimore took an actual guard who’s already playing like one of the most promising young interior linemen in football.
Maybe Mauigoa eventually becomes the player Harbaugh and Co. believe he is, and this article ages like milk. I hope that’s exactly what happens. But we can only go off what we’ve seen so far, and unfortunately for the Giants, it’s fair to question why they made things unnecessarily complicated when a pretty obvious alternative was sitting right in front of them.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
