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New York Giants 2024 Training Camp Preview: G Jalen Mayfield

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5 months ago

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New York Giants 2024 Training Camp Preview: G Jalen Mayfield

To this point in his career, New York Giants offensive lineman hopeful Jalen Mayfield has been correctly considered a draft bust. The Atlanta Falcons drafted Mayfield in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but his pre-draft process was the most difficult we’ve seen due to COVID-19, which gave teams less access than they’ve ever had.

Based on the film, I didn’t think that Mayfield should have been drafted on the first two days of the draft, as his athletic testing was subpar. All of that is to say that I personally have a hard time faulting Mayfield much for being labeled a bust simply because he was drafted earlier than he should have been.

Mayfield’s versatility can keep him in the NFL for a decade or longer. He may never develop into a starter-quality player on the line, but there’s a lack of starter-quality linemen right now anyway. 

With the experience Mayfield gained playing both offensive tackle spots while at Michigan and both guard spots when he played with the Falcons and Giants, he could fill multiple depth spots to create roster space for other positions.

Height: 6-5
Weight: 319 lbs.
EXP: 3 Years
School: Michigan
How Acquired: FA-23

Mayfield spent the 2023 preseason with the Atlanta Falcons before being released prior to final cutdowns. After being released, the Giants signed him to their practice squad, where he would stay for most of the season.

Mayfield saw time last season against the Dolphins, Bills, and Commanders as part of the field goal unit and saw significant playing time offensively against the Dolphins. In those games he registered an overall grade of just 26.1, allowing five pressures on his 32 pass-blocking snaps.

Mayfield will play the 2024 season on a one-year contract worth $985,000 with no guaranteed money. With no guaranteed money, the Giants can release Mayfield without taking on any dead cap penalty.

The Giants have six full-time guards on the roster right now and Mayfield is the only one with no guaranteed money on his contract. That’s not necessarily an indicator of his job security, or lack thereof, because the other players at the position are making minimal guaranteed money that won’t keep the Giants scared from cutting them.

With a new offensive line staff in place, there’s a relatively clean slate heading into the 2024 season for an offensive line that was nothing short of embarrassing in 2023. Carmen Bricillo came over from the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason to try and fix an offensive line that was arguably the worst in the entire NFL, picking up PFF’s worst pass-blocking grade and third-worst run-blocking grade.

Bricillo is coming over from a Raiders offense that ran zone-blocking schemes on just 49 percent of their run plays. Last season, the Giants ran zone-blocking schemes on 61 percent of their run plays.

The expectation I have for the Giants offense is that Bricillo will help shift the offensive line more toward a gap-run game. A move like that would help players like Mayfield potentially earn a roster spot and even maybe earn some playing time rotationally. 

Last year, Mayfield was only on the field for three gap-blocking runs but picked up a PFF grade of 67.8, whereas his nine zone-blocking runs got a grade of just 35.2. Mayfield simply isn’t athletic enough to be a consistent positive contributor for an offense that’s going to rely heavily on running a zone-blocking scheme unless it’s inside zone.

My expectations for Mayfield in 2024 are low but he has enough positional versatility to justify keeping on the roster if the offense does shift more toward a gap-based rushing attack. With the new kickoff rules in place this year, teams will have to adjust their roster counts to have players that can help them there – positional versatility on the offensive line has never been more important.

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