E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls up until last year. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

GIANTS TAKE STEPS TO SOLVE O-LINE WOES, TRADE HILL FOR PRICE

By Dave Klein
On the eve of the massive player cut required by the NFL no later than 4 p.m. (ET) Tuesday, and less than 24 hours after the Giants lost their final preseason game, the Giants took steps to solve the offensive line problem. They traded interior defensive lineman B.J. Hill (6-3, 310) and a 2022 seventh round draft choice to the Cincinnati Bengals for center-guard Billy Price.

Both players were drafted in 2018, Price in the first round and Hill in the third. The trade is the Giants' fourth this month, seventh this year - three during the NFL Draft - and 20th since Dave Gettleman was hired as general manager in December 2017. Price, 6-4 and 310, was selected out of Ohio State by the Bengals as the 21st overall pick and in three seasons played in 42 games with 19 starts (11 at center, seven at left guard and one at right guard).

Price played in all 32 games in 2019-20, starting eight games two years ago and one last season. His lone start in 2020 was on Nov. 1 vs. Tennessee, when he stepped in for injured starter Trey Hopkins. As a rookie in 2018, Price started at center in all 10 games in which he played. He missed games 3-8 due to a foot injury suffered in Week 2 vs. Baltimore. Price helped Joe Mixon rush for AFC-best 1,168 yards and was selected to the All-Rookie team by Professional Football Writers of America.

The following year, Price made each of his eight starts at guard. Price was at Ohio State from 2013-17, redshirting his first year and then starting all 55 games in his Buckeyes career, setting school records for both starts and consecutive starts. "Honestly, he's a guy who has drawn a lot of interest," head coach Joe Judge said. "I have a lot of respect for B.J. as a player. I think he's a starting defensive lineman in this league. He's in a unique position. He's in the last year of his contract and I think this is an opportunity to improve our team and also put a player that we have a lot of respect for in a position to go out there and get paid starter money.

"It's something that works well for both parties. We appreciate what B.J. did. I have a lot of respect for him as a person, a lot of respect for him as a player. I wish him the best going forward." It is likely that Price will be used at one of the guard positions, perhaps to form a three-guard rotation system with Will Hernandez and Shane Lemieux. Hill played at North Carolina State and in his three seasons he played in all 48 games with 17 starts. His totals included 116 tackles (62 solo) and 7.5 sacks.

Last season, Hill played in all 16 games for the third consecutive season and tallied 32 tackles (15 solo) and added one sack, a nine-yard drop of quarterback Mitchell Trubisky at Chicago on Sept. 20. Clearly, the trade was one of necessity since the problem with the offensive line hasn't lessened at all. Since the hiring of Dave Gettleman in 2017, the offensive line has been a constant weakness, and most football tacticians understand that an inferior offensive line is like the fruit from a poisonous tree, it affects the quarterback, the running game and the passing game.

Last year's first-round pick - the fourth overall in the league - was tackle Andrew Thomas, and he was clearly more negative than positive Sunday night. Judge reflected on that question during Monday's remote media press conference. "I think across the entire offensive line," he said. "These guys did a lot of things that were positive and (there were) a lot of things to clean up.

Playing together on the field for the first time really since the Jets game early on, (it was) good to go out there and get some chemistry. "There were a lot of things that happened against New England last week in practice, things that showed up in the game last night that were positives, that were learning experiences and then some other things that obviously we've got to narrow down and focus on these next weeks. This is something that we've got to fix and clean up across the board.

"I saw positive things from a lot of the young guys, Andrew and (tackle) Matt (Peart. The importance is really taking whatever's on tape, positive or negative, and make sure we build on the positive and eliminate the negative things going forward. "We know that Denver, Washington and Atlanta [the first three regular season opponents] are all watching the same tapes we are right now, so we've got to make sure we're sharp and we're efficient in correcting it."

Bottom line: Trading away a young and promising defensive lineman, while not necessarily advised, is the sign of a problem that needs correcting, a problem so significant that it could no longer be overlooked.

EXTRA POINTS - Tight end Evan Engram and wide receiver Darius Slayton were injured Sunday night, but according to the team neither was a significant blow. ... Engram pulled a calf muscle (although further examinations might prove it to be a high ankle sprain, which is more serious) and Slayton (foot/ankle). ... At this moment, both seem likely to play in two weeks against Denver in the 2021 opener.

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