Why Weston Richburg Will Be New York Giants' Most Improved Starter in 2015

To say the 2014 season did not go as the New York Giants planned would be the understatement of the Eli Manning-Tom Coughlin era. The Giants thought a $116 million free-agency haul and an NFL-ready rookie class would help the team rebound from a 7-9 season the year before.

Instead, injuries derailed New York's dreams of improvement. By the end of the season, the Giants had 20 players (most in NFL) and $30,979,907 (fourth-most in NFL) sitting on injured reserve, according to Spotrac's injured reserve list tracker. And the team had regressed by a game, finishing with a 6-10 record.

Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Of all the curveballs thrown New York's way last season, the hardest one to predict was probably Weston Richburg's path to the starting left guard gig.

Richburg, a center by trade, was a second-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft. The original plan was to bring the Colorado State product along behind free-agency acquisition J.D. Walton. Then, Chris Snee decided to retire from the NFL, and Geoff Schwartz had to start the season on short-term injured reserve.

Suddenly, the Giants were forced to call upon Richburg and John Jerry to start at left and right guard, respectively.

Richburg's rookie season got off to a good start. Based on his performance through eight games, the stand-in guard made The MMQB's Midseason All-Pro Second Team. The season had its many ups and downs, though, and no one's trying to hide that.

In fact, the Giants benched a healthy Richburg in favor of veteran Adam Snyder, whom they signed off the street just days before the 2014 season began, for the Dallas Cowboys matchup in Week 12. Richburg eventually replaced an injured Snyder in that game, but the brief time spent as a benchwarmer left an awful taste in the O-lineman's mouth.

"I didn’t like it," Richburg told George Willis of the New York Post about being a backup. "It felt like a preseason game. I don’t like standing there not being able to help and not being able to play. I think that’s why every player comes in the NFL is to play. They don’t want to be on the sidelines. It was tough."

The missed start for that Cowboys game was the lowest moment of Richburg's rookie season, and it should serve as a major motivating force moving forward.

Now, heading into the 2015 season, Richburg is in line to start at his natural position: center. Forty-five of his 50 collegiate starts came at this position, so his new role should be more familiar than the one he was asked to play as a rookie. When speaking with Giants insider John Schmeelk recently, Richburg touched on what's different about the center position, compared to guard.

"It's a little more cerebral here at center," Richburg said in the interview with Schmeelk. "I've got to be a little more mentally engaged. Here, I've got more responsibility making calls, communicating with Eli, making sure we're both on the same page. So, a little more cerebral—just as physical, though."

After last season, the Giants' main focus on offense was to fortify the front five. Already, they've been dealt a tremendous blow with the loss of left tackle Will Beatty to pectoral surgery. But that injury mostly affects the outsides, as rookie Ereck Flowers has been thrust into the lineup to replace Beatty at left tackle while free-agency acquisition Marshall Newhouse mans the right side.

The interior O-line remains intact and potentially dominant, with Schwartz and Justin Pugh slated to flank Richburg on either side. Pugh, a first-round pick in 2013, was serviceable as a right tackle for the past two seasons; now he has a chance to redefine his still-young career as one of the league's most athletic left guards.

And after missing all but two games last season, Schwartz can finally prove himself as the 340-pound mauler New York signed him to be at right guard.

Richburg has taken a critical eye to 2014 game film of himself in hopes of improvement, according to Michael Moraitis of Giants 101. The retrospective look has allowed him to pinpoint aspects of his game that need improvement:

"

There's different things in each aspect of the game—run, pass—that I need to work on. A lot of footwork things. Some of it was being at guard, which was different from center, so it took a little adjustment, but I think just those little things, pass game and run game, that I found is going to be something that I'm going to work on for sure.

"

In 2014, the Giants posted the league's worst yards-per-carry average (4.9). Although the line cut down on the amount of times Manning was sacked and pressured, the offense under Ben McAdoo is tailored for a quarterback with a quick release, not a passer who tests his protection.

Richburg can help his unit rebound from the subpar season, though.

There's an opportunity for Richburg to become New York's offensive anchor of the future. Considering his additional responsibilities at center, the second-year blocker has no choice but to develop into the leader of the O-line. If Richburg eliminates the mistakes that so often plague NFL rookies, there's no reason to believe he won't blossom into a much-improved starter for the Giants in 2015.

Kevin Boilard writes about the New York Giants at Bleacher Report