Art Stapleton | NFL writer

EAST RUTHERFORD – To understand Kevin Zeitler's obsession with becoming the best offensive lineman he can be, you have to follow him to the places he perfects his craft.

The locker room. The meeting room. The cafeteria at the Giants' training facility.

The practice field. The walkway outside the team's field house following a morning training camp walk through.

The dining room at home - with his 11-month-old daughter Kaleia in her high chair.

A wine tunnel near Napa. The beaches of Hawaii.

The showroom floor of Ski Barn on Route 17 in Paramus.

Nowhere is off-limits when it comes to Zeitler and his desire to work on his technique and footwork.

"We can be anywhere and he'll be pass setting," Sara Zeitler, his wife, told NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY Network Northeast by phone. "On his off day [Monday], we went to a store to buy some patio furniture quick, and while I was working on the paperwork, he was pass setting. And I think it helps him relax, to be honest. He does it everywhere. He did it in the photography studio when we were having our newborn photos done. We were on vacation in a winery [north of Napa Valley], in a wine tunnel, and he's pass setting. It's just Kevin, but sometimes I have to realize that other people don't know him, so they'll kind of look at him like, 'What are you doing?'

"And I'll be like, 'Oh, just working on some footwork.'"

Courtesy Giants.com

From an offensive line perspective, Zeitler is as close to a total package up front as the Giants have had in some time. He's a pro's pro who excels in both run and pass blocking. He gave up a total of 11 pressures last season, according to Pro Football Focus, and the man he's replacing (Jamon Brown, who signed with the Falcons) struggled in pass protection last year.

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Make no mistake: Zeitler is the best offensive lineman the Giants have had since Chris Snee, who retired in 2013 after reaching four Pro Bowls, winning two Super Bowls and earning a spot in the franchise's Ring of Honor.

Zeitler's reliability should help tie the entire unit together, and there's a reason the optimism this season about the line is actually justified. He has started every game for the past four seasons, and he has not missed a game since 2014.

He has been a solid presence and an anchor his entire career.

Zeitler was the No. 6 guard in the NFL last season, and no one at the position had a better pass blocking grade (91.7), according to Pro Football Focus.

“He’s a very physical, very focused guy. If you’ve been around him at all, that’s one of the things striking about him. Super focused,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said of Zeitler, 29. “He told me he caught a muskie this summer. I know enough about fishing where they say it takes 10,000 casts to catch a muskie. So that’s a pretty focused guy. Yeah, I think that’s part of his charm, is his focus. Really in every drill we do, whether it’s a walk-through or practice setting, he’s into it. That’s a good thing."

Giants offensive line coach Hal Hunter praised the team's front office for being able to acquire Zeitler to play right guard as part of the package that sent Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon to the Cleveland Browns.

In saying Zeitler is the most focused player he has been around in 38 years of coaching, Hunter calls him “a man on a mission.”

"I was absolutely shocked that we got a guard of that quality to be able to come in," Hunter said, adding: "To bring in a guy like [Zeitler] - I'll tell you what, there's 31 other teams that'd like to have him."

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Just two years ago, as one of the biggest prizes on the market, Zeitler signed a five-year, $60 million contract with the Browns, making him the highest-paid guard in the NFL.

One day before NFL free agency began in March, Zeitler was on the move and joining a team in the Giants desperate for his talent and experience up front.

'Rep, rep, rep until it's great'

"Attention to detail," Giants left guard Will Hernandez told NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY Network New Jersey. "He'll do 1,000 reps if he has to at one particular movement, as long as he gets that specific movement right when it matters. He cares so much about doing the little things right because he understands that is what makes him such a great player. It's the reason why he's such a great player because he'll rep, rep, rep until it's great, until he gets it the way he wants it. You see that, it shows that he cares, and it shows he wants to be here, be great and help this team win."

The Zeitlers met in high school, and Sara jokes that Kevin "was the guy who was trying to sneak into the weight room during school dances."

"His parents instilled values in him that you don't do things halfway - you do things all the way," Sara said. "For Kevin, if he's not focusing on how to make himself better, and it's not just make himself better at football, it's make himself better at home, being a great husband, being a great dad, he fully dedicates himself to everything he does. Growing up, he was bullied a bit, and I just think that set him on a path to prove everybody wrong and succeed in all aspects of life from football to relationships and everything. I think he thinks that, if he's not always giving 100 percent, then he's failing."

The rumors were swirling all offseason about a possible trade involving Zeitler, and they were unavoidable. But Browns coach Freddie Kitchens eased his mind a bit - and that of his family - with a phone call on which his place in Cleveland's plans was reaffirmed.

The next day, news broke that Zeitler and Vernon were being swapped.

Sara found out on social media. Kevin was at the gym - "Leg Day, my birthday," he recalls - and typically he does not check his cellphone during any workouts. This time, though, on the way to get some water, Zeitler picked up his phone and saw missed calls and voicemails from Browns general manager John Dorsey and his agent, not to mention "a million Instagram comments telling me good luck in New York."

"It was kind of that instant, 'Oh my gosh, now what are we gonna do,'" Sara said. "I had a six-month-old baby and I thought we were going to be in Cleveland for three more years, four more years, whatever - and now we're moving. So that initial shock was there, I drove to Kevin's gym where he was working out, and I was hoping I would be the one to tell him instead of him finding out on social media.

"But when I got there he had just found out, and we started making plans."

The Zeitlers' first phone call was to their realtor in Cleveland. Suddenly they had a house to put on the market. Their next call was to their financial adviser for some help in finding a realtor in New Jersey, and the Giants provided help on that front.

Within a week or so, they were on a plane hunting for a new home, which they found and closed on May 1 - 19 days before OTAs (organized team activities) began.

"And we sold our house in Cleveland within the first 24 hours of having it listed," Sara said with a laugh. "Now we're here."

Courtesy Sara Zeitler

Happy to be a Giant

Zeitler is eager to prove his worth here, and admittedly there is an excitement to step out on the field with a player as talented as Saquon Barkley.

"Whenever you have a player who has that much talent and ability, you never know what's going to happen when he hits that hole," Zeitler said. "Saquon makes you believe that any time you go out there, each and every play you give him a chance, you never know what can happen. He gives you a little bit extra juice to get the job done."

It's unfathomable to think Zeitler has not been to a Pro Bowl with invites seemingly given out like Halloween candy in recent years due to declining invites and injuries, not to mention the fact that he has been one of the best guards in the NFL since entering the league as the Bengals' 2012 first-round pick out of Wisconsin.

"In the long run, those kind of accolades are really kinda irrelevant," Zeitler said. "If I make a Pro Bowl, great, and if I don't, I don't, because I have to live with the football that I played and what that meant. Obviously, I can't let that stop me from being the player I know I am, the player I know I can be."

Kaleia is not walking yet, but the Zeitlers have a few ideas of what that may entail when she does.

"She's so close," Sara said. "She might get up on her feet and show us her pass sets, she's been watching her daddy so much. Hopefully she'll do that, or even better, she'll work on pass rushing him so they can be workout buddies in the backyard. Either way, I'm sure once she's up, she will keep practicing until she gets it right."

Dad wouldn't have it any other way.