Hernandez Seeks Stability with Kugler on Offensive Line

If familiarity breeds success, then Will Hernandez should make strides in his fifth NFL season after four years with the New York Giants. That’s surely what the Arizona Cardinals hope after signing Hernandez Monday to compete for the job at right guard.

Selected in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Giants, continuity and stability did not exist during his time in New York.

For the first two seasons, Pat Shurmur was the team’s head coach and Hal Hunter coached the offensive line. However, Shurmur was fired following the 2019 season and was replaced by Joe Judge, who hired Marc Colombo as line coach.

To say that didn’t go well would be a massive understatement. In November of the COVID-affected season, Colombo had a confrontation with the head coach after Judge hired Dave DeGuglielmo as a “consultant” to help Colombo.

That resulted in the firing of Colombo and DeGuglielmo taking his place. That led to even more change as DeGuglielmo departed after the season and was replaced by Rob Sale for 2021, who was in his first season as an NFL coach. The Giants made another change for 2022 with the departure of Judge and the hiring of Brian Daboll by new general manager Joe Schoen.

While it’s been said that Hernandez played for three line coaches in four seasons, the in-season change in 2020 actually makes it four.

During his four seasons, Hernandez started 56 of the 62 games he played and participated in over 1,000 snaps in 2018 (1,027/100%), 2019 (1,067/100%) and last season (1,048/95%). In 2020, a stint on the COVID-19 list and playing injured limited him to 13 games, seven starts and 524 snaps (65%).

When asked about signing a one-year contract, he said, “I know things haven’t gone as smooth as they could have these last (few) years, so I’m not going to sit here and demand anything or say I want this or that. I’m going to take what I can get and I’m going to show why I deserve what it is I want later on after I show exactly what it is that I can do.

“I’m not too picky right now on having what I want to have – a multi-year deal. My mentality is to come out here, show why I deserve it, and then get it done.”

Hernandez is clearly enthused to be reunited with line coach and run-game coordinator Sean Kugler, who was the head coach at Texas-El Paso for Hernandez’s tenure there.

“I’m very excited that I’m going to be playing under Coach Kugler again,” he said. “I feel like he’s one of the main reasons why I even made it to the NFL in the first place. Me and him have a very strong connection, a very good relationship, and it’s one we’ve kept over the years. Being able to get coached up under him again is only going to help me and it’s only going to help this team.

“We understand each other very well, we know what we expect out of each other. We respect each other and I feel like we’re only going to be able to bring out the best in each of us. So I’m very excited about it. I know it’s only going to be up from here, and it’s nothing but positive.”