Giants’ guard Marcus McKethan missed his chance last season

Opportunity knocked for New York Giants guard Marcus McKethan last season. Unfortunately for him, after missing his entire 2022 rookie season with a torn ACL, he wasn’t ready to handle it.

Will that opportunity ever come again for McKethan? Let’s discuss the third-year guard as we continue our player-by-player profiles of the Giants’ 90-man roster.

The skinny

Height: 6-foot-7
Weight: 335
Opening day age: 25
Position: Guard
Experience: 2
Contract: Year 3 of four-year, $3,936,508 rookie deal | 2024 cap hit: $1,054,127 | Guaranteed in 2024: $0

Career to date

The Giants drafted McKethan in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, 173rd overall, as a developmental guard. Unfortunately, that development was derailed when he suffered a season-ending torn ACL in the 2022 Blue and White Scrimmage at MetLife Stadium.

McKethan did not return to full practice until the middle of 2023 training camp. Yet, in Week 2 of the regular season, McKethan was starting at right guard after a poor game from Mark Glowinski.

Predictably, with few practice reps — none with the starters in training camp — under his belt, things did not go well for McKethan. He started five games and played considerable snaps in a sixth.

From Week 8 thru the remainder of the season, though, McKethan played only 17 offensive snaps. There was a six-game stretch when he did not play a snap on offense.

McKethan finished the season with a 45.4 Pro Football Focus grade, just 26.8 as a pass-blocker and 53.9 as a run-blocker. McKethan was charged with allowing two sacks and 17 total pressures in 245 pass-blocking snaps, an efficiency score of 95.8.

2024 outlook

As I said above, opportunity knocked for McKethan last season and he couldn’t grab it. That might not be his fault. Considering the circumstances he faced, it seems like the Giants put him into a situation he was not ready to handle.

Still, life moves fast in the NFL. McKethan missed a chance to grab a full-time starting job, and that might not come again.

The Giants replaced offensive line coach Bobby Johnson with Carmen Bricillo, and revamped the personnel by signing five experienced free agent offensive linemen.

McKethan will have to impress to earn a job as a backup. He could land on the practice squad, or the roster of another team, in 2024.