The New York Giants' free-agent efforts so far have been focused entirely on defense. But they do have needs on the offensive side of the ball, and they're not ignoring them. They're hosting free-agent offensive tackle Russell Okung for a visit Friday. Okung also plans to visit the Lions.
So you have questions, obviously. Some of the most common include whether Okung is healthy, what the Giants' chances are of signing him and where he'd play if they did. To answer these, it's important to understand the difference between the first day of free agency and the third.
On the first day of free agency, Wednesday, the Giants shelled out three monster contracts to three players they really wanted at all costs -- Janoris Jenkins, Damon Harrison and Olivier Vernon. That was the big-splash day, and from the Giants' standpoint it went quite well.
By the third day of free agency, things are a bit more mellow. Rather than hyper-aggressively pursuing top-of-the-market targets, teams are sitting back and looking at different ways to solve their problems. A player of Okung's pedigree and accomplishment is interesting and worth taking a look at. The Giants want to know the status of his shoulder injury, what he's like to negotiate with (because he's not using an agent) and what kind of role he'd be willing to play for them. They could get answers Friday that convince them Okung is a player they have to have, and then they could get aggressive in trying to sign him. Or they could come out of the meeting with a more lukewarm feeling and tell him they'll be in touch.
As to the specifics of how it would work if they did sign him, that's all to be determined. As of now, the Giants consider 2015 first-round pick Ereck Flowers their starting left tackle. He started 15 games there as a rookie, and they wouldn't have used the No. 9 overall pick on him if they didn't see him as a left tackle. So it's possible they could tell Okung he'd have to play right tackle, and it's possible that could convince Okung he doesn't want to sign with the Giants. More likely, if the Giants did sign Okung, they'd tell the players and the public that they'd sort it all out in camp. It wouldn't kill Flowers' development to play a year or two at right tackle while a more experienced and accomplished guy like Okung played on the left and mentored him. And it wouldn't kill the Giants to play an experienced left tackle on the right side, either.
The point of a visit like this is for each side to figure out whether it's right for the other. Okung is a well-known name and a potentially exciting possibility for a team with question marks on its offensive line. But the specifics of whether they can or even should get him and where he'd play if they did... those things aren't necessarily all figured out just yet.