Giants’ center battle: Spencer Pulley, Nick Gates are ‘scratch even’
One of the New York Giants’ most intriguing training camp battles this year comes at the center position, where incumbent Spencer Pulley is working to fight off Nick Gates, the team’s Swiss Army Knife.
Pulley filled in for the injured Jon Halapio a season ago and played admirably, but not spectacularly.
Meanwhile, Gates has bounced all over the offensive line and filled in wherever the team needed. This year, that could come at right tackle or center, but at least early on, center seems to be where it’s at.
And to Gates’ credit, he’s made the transition smoothly — almost unrealistically smoothly.
“Nick’s doing a tremendous job. He never played the position before. He’s the alpha male that you want at the position. He owns it,” offensive line coach Marc Colombo said earlier this month. “That’s what you love about Nick. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s versatile. He can play any position on the offensive line, which is a huge plus for this organization. Just love the kid so far.
“He’s done a good job. We have a ways to go. Again, we’re just getting started here, but love a lot of things we’ve seen from him so far. He’s getting a good share of reps at center. We’ll see soon. Again, we haven’t put on the pads yet. Once we put on the pads, a lot of things are going to reveal themselves.”
If you didn’t know any better, you’d think center was Gates’ natural position. But despite that, he hasn’t completely leap-frogged Pulley, who remains very much in the race to start.
“[They are] scratch even,” head coach Joe Judge said on Tuesday.
“Nick’s a guy that when we got here, we knew he had a lot of flexibility position wise. He had to learn the center position. I think he’s definitely a guy who’s just locked in to doing anything he could to give himself a chance. He’s improved in the short amount of time we’ve been able to be together. He shows a good command out there in terms of understanding the offense, communicating the calls. He has a toughness about him that you like inside.
“Spencer brings the same qualities. Spencer’s a tough dude, he’s a smart guy, he can run the show out there, he understands what we’re trying to do, he understands what the defense is trying to do, he’s a great communicator on the line of scrimmage and in the huddle. Both those guys have done a tremendous job competing.”
The Giants have just 18 more days to figure out who will start at center against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1.
For now, it’s a toss-up. But Gates is ascending and Pulley rode the bike during Tuesday’s practice, so that’s certainly something to keep an eye on.
