Giants sign OL Josh Rivas and OL Chris Owens, waive one
Editor’s note: The Giants initially announced that wide receiver Keelan Doss had been waived. After Robert Foster suffered an injury in practice, they pulled that transaction back and kept Doss on the roster.
The New York Giants are completely ravaged by injury with the offensive line being the hardest hit position.
No, we’re not recycling headlines from the past decade. It’s true once again and it’s creating serious problems as the team heads into Week 2 of the preseason.
Head coach Brian Daboll acknowledged on Friday that the Giants would have to cut two players in order to sign reserve offensive linemen following a morning workout. The two incoming linemen are Josh Rivas, who had been released last week, and rookie center/guard Chris Owens (Alabama).
In order to clear room for Rivas and Owens, the Giants have waived defensive tackle Christopher Hinton and placed wide receiver Robert Foster on injured reserve (IR) with a hamstring injury.
The Giants have seen an overwhelming number of injuries this summer with as many as 26 players missing practice on any given day. Along the offensive line, they’ve lost tackle Matt Gono (neck) and rookie guard Marcus McKethan (ACL) for the season.
Meanwhile, Ben Bredeson, Jon Feliciano, Shane Lemieux, Jamil Douglas and Joshua Ezeudu are all missing time with one injury or another. Bredeson, who was serving as the team’s fourth different starting center, left practice on Thursday with an elbow injury.
Center Nick Gates and tackle Matt Peart also remain on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.
In the absence of Gates, Feliciano, Lemieux, Bredeson and Douglas, Daboll said veteran Max Garcia will start at center against the Cincinnati Bengals. And because of that change and lacking depth, he says the coaches will have to discuss whether of not quarterback Daniel Jones plays.
