The Giants brought in a veteran O-lineman on Saturday, signing 30-year-old blocker Joe Looney. On Saturday morning, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reported that free-agent center Austin Reiter was expected to visit with Big Blue “in the coming days.”
However, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that Reiter has already met with the Giants, and that the Looney acquisition has closed the door on a Reiter signing, at least for the time being. Looney could supplant Nick Gates at the pivot, thereby shifting Gates to guard, or he could serve as guard depth himself. With Reiter having worked almost exclusively at center in his career, it would certainly seem that there is no room for him with the Giants at this point.
A seventh-round pick of the Washington Football Team in 2016, Reiter eventually caught on with the Chiefs and settled into a role as Patrick Mahomes‘ snapper over the past two seasons. But Kansas City let him hit the open market this offseason and then added Austin Blythe in free agency and Creed Humphrey in the draft. Reiter has recently met with the Bengals and Texans, so he could be on the verge of finding a new home even without the Giants in the picture.
In other Giants OL news, left guard Shane Lemieux recently suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for a couple of weeks. Luckily, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes, the second-year pro will not require surgery and should be on track for the start of the regular season. Given that Lemieux was carted off the field when he suffered the injury, that comes as a big relief for New York.
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