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          NFL Nation

          Why the Giants haven't signed Eugene Monroe

          • Dan Graziano, senior NFL national reporterJun 24, 2016, 11:45 AM ET
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              Dan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels. You can follow Dan on Twitter via @DanGrazianoESPN.
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          Two Twitter mailbag questions that address the same issue from two different but important angles:

          Thanks as always for the questions. When Eugene Monroe got cut a couple of weeks ago, there was the usual immediate enthusiasm among fans about a well-known player who plays a position of need for their team. I'm sure there are Giants fans out there who figured they'd sign him right away and wonder why they haven't. But these two questions hit at parts of the issue that have to be considered before assuming anything.

          The first one -- "Do you think he's a significant upgrade?" -- is a key one the Giants have asked themselves. They like Monroe. They had some cursory discussions about trading for him right before Baltimore released him and were in contact with his agent right after. They are still considering signing him and are under the impression that he's interested in them at some level and is waiting to assess other potential interest.

          However, the Giants do like Marshall Newhouse, their current right tackle, more than a lot of fans seem to. Newhouse is a good guy who knows the offense and, Giants coaches believe, can handle the job of right tackle if they don't find an upgrade. They also like 2015 first-round draft pick Ereck Flowers as their left tackle, both now and going forward. So if they were to sign Monroe, they wouldn't be promising him a starting tackle job. They'd be bringing in a guy who's missed 15 games the past two years for health reasons and adding him to the training camp mix to see whether he could help. Personally, I assume he'd be better than Newhouse, but I don't know about "significant." I don't know how healthy he is or whether he'd be able to hold up all year. The Giants don't either, and for that reason they're not likely to over-commit just to bring him in. It's possible another team wants him more than they do, and it's likely worth his time to see whether someone will pay more than the Giants will pay.

          As for the second question -- whether Monroe and others like him would cross the Giants off their list of potential destination because they insist on Flowers as left tackle and would force them to have to play right -- I kind of doubt that players at this point in the market can be that picky. My understanding is that Monroe would prefer to play left tackle somewhere but that he's open to either and understands that he may not have a choice if he wants to keep playing. The Giants are not under the impression that he has ruled them out but they have made it clear that their intention is to keep Flowers on the left side. So it's entirely possible he's waiting to see whether someone else will offer him a left tackle job before finally deciding whether to take the Giants' offer of a chance at a right tackle job.

          Anyway, there are no more practices or workouts for more than a month, so there's no rush on this from the team's end or the player's end. That's where things stand at this point and it may be a while before there's a resolution here.