New York Giants 2024 Training Camp Preview: OL Joshua Ezeudu

A 2022 third-round pick, Ezeudu has athleticism galore pouring out of his body. He has shown fine mobility, especially in the open field, and his functional strength is certainly more than enough for an offensive lineman.

Ezeudu’s biggest area of weakness, at least through his first two seasons, is in the technical aspects of the game. He has struggled to stay consistent in his technique and, at times, in his confidence.

He has shown instances of becoming too easily flustered, which raises questions about his confidence and whether he’s undermining himself.

The organization has tried to fit him into the LG spot, but he has come up short in his two NFL seasons. Out of necessity, Ezeudu had to play some left tackle last year when Andrew Thomas strained his hamstring in the Week 1 game.

Though Ezeudu held up for a while and showed the mobility necessary for the position, the techniques began to fall apart the longer he was on the field until, finally, a toe injury did him in for the season.

Height: 6-4
Weight: 310  lbs.
Exp.: 3 Years
School: North Carolina 
How Acquired: D3-22

Ezeudu, who played ten games as a rookie with two starts at left guard before his season ended prematurely due to a neck issue, struggled most with consistency from play to play. In his first season, he finished with a pass-block efficiency rating of 937, sixth out of the seven guards on the team. His ranked second behind veteran Mark Glowisnki’s 37 in 695 snaps.

His 2023 season was another weird one. For starters, Ezeudu worked all season at guard, yet in the closing days of the preseason and into the first week of the season, the coaches decided to start working him at offensive tackle, a position he had played in college.

Sure enough, when left tackle Andrew Thomas went down for several weeks with a hamstring strain, it was Ezuedu–not Matt Peart, who had prior NFL snaps at tackle–whose number was called.

Sadly, Ezeudu’s second season was more of the same in finding consistency. He finished with a 95 pass-blocking efficiency rating, just ahead of Evan Neal’s 94.6 mark, the worst among the five tackles on the team. 

Ezeudu struggled so badly that the Giants brought Justin Pugh off the couch to settle the offensive line. Meanwhile, a turf toe injury ended his season, and Ezeudu was never considered to be reactivated from IR as the season went on. He was limited to 266 snaps in six games.