Giants Resign O'Hara to Five Year Contract

The Giants re-signed center Shaun O'Hara, in a big move that keeps most of the offensive line together. They already have released Luke Petitgout, so if they lost O'Hara, it would have made the offensive line situation in New York much worse. The line typically needs a year or two to "gel", lineman need to get used to playing with each other. O'Hara has provided this team invaluable veteran leadership since the day he was signed and has brought stability to a center position that was lacking stability since Brian Williams retired.

Center is one of the most underrated positions in football, they are the "quarterback of the offensive line", the leader, the ball is in their hands before every snap. A reliable center is a must in this league and O'Hara is a reliable center and Giants fans have to be happy with his play and this signing. Eli Manning also seems to have a good relationship with O'Hara and from watching his interviews he seems like one of the more team oriented Giants.

He played on the Browns for 38 games, and it was a very bad Browns team indeed. He was arguably the best lineman on that team. He also played at Rutgers, when they were a terrible team, and he has said in interviews he is thrilled with the teams progress under Greg Schiano and with the direction that team is headed. O'Hara wasn't even drafted, and now he has a five year 19 million dollar contract and it goes to show that you don't have to be drafted in order to be successful in this league. It might have also had something to do with the terrible Rutgers team he played for.

He is one of the most underrated centers in the league, watching him this year, he should have at least been considered for the Pro-Bowl. He also had a great year last year, he is a more then adequate run blocker, but pass blocking is where he excels. He is part of a line that helped Tiki Barber to career numbers since he has been on the team the last three years, and also he has done a great job protecting Eli Manning.

The soon to be 30 year old O'Hara, signed a five year 19 million dollar contract, and will be snapping the football to Eli Manning for years to come. One thing Giants fans can count on is that when an opposing team blitzes up the middle, O'Hara will be there to pick it up in the coming seasons, and he does a pretty good job at it.

Sources:
http://www.nbcsports.com/nfl_players/3569/detail.html
http://www.sportinglife.com/nfl/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=international_feed/07/03/03/GRIDIRON_USA-New_York.html