The New York Giants blueprint is more transparent than you might first think.

While it's fair to disagree with how they've gone about the trading in and out of assets, what they're trying to do is simple -- build a locker room full of team-first players who don't have much off-field buzz about them. When the Giants added two players like this, who also have a track record of success on the field, head coach Pat Shurmur was very excited. This is how both Shurmur and general manager Dave Gettleman feel about the additions of offensive guard Kevin Zeitler and wide receiver Golden Tate.

Shurmur reflected back on the dark days of his first season as head coach when Patrick Omameh was starting at right guard and Will Hernandez was still going through growing pains at left guard. At the center position, the Giants lost starter Jon Halapio to a season-ending injury and Week 2 and eventually had to bench his replacement John Greco for Spencer Pulley. Heading into 2019, Shurmur is happy to have more stability in the group.

“He’s been a steady, solid performer at right guard and moving forward, you add a veteran presence at that position,’’ Shurmur said, via The Post. “I think of the uncertainty this time last year with the offensive line and I think about how that line grew, the players that are still here, how they grew as the season progressed and they developed. I thought [offensive line coaches Hal Hunter and Ben Wilkerson] did a good job of developing them.’’

In the past, Shurmur has made multiple mentions of how the offensive line is the most important unit on his football team. This echoes what Gettleman has also preached and acted on in the past with the additions of Zeitler, Hernandez, and left tackle Nate Solder since his arrival. The Giants offensive line settled down in the second half of the 2018 season despite average or below-average blocking -- at times -- from the entire right side.

While Jamon Brown's arrival on the offensive line (right guard) after the bye coincidentally coincided with the improvement by the Giants offensive line in the second half, his impact has been greatly overstated. We have reviewed the All-22 coaches film on every Giants regular season game, including multiple runs on games from the second half. The improvement of the Giants offensive line came when Hernandez took a major leap forward in his rookie season.

During the early part of 2018, Solder was forced to compensate while playing alongside a rookie. In the second half, Solder was arguably the Giants' best offensive lineman and easily their most consistent run blocker. This offseason, both Solder and Gettleman have made mention of the tale of two seasons for the veteran offensive tackle. When reviewing his 2018 season, Gettleman pointed to Hernandez's learning curve and how it impacted Solder in the first half of the 2018 season.

Free agency is here and the Giants are making franchise-altering moves prior to the 2019 NFL Draft. Stay up to date with everything Giants by taking a second to sign up for our FREE Giants newsletter!

Shurmur is also happy about bringing a veteran like Tate on board.

"He’s a veteran presence. He’s very accomplished, caught roughly 90 balls a year, so he’s got production,’’ Shurmur said. “He’s got a Super Bowl ring. I’ve known about him, always admired him as a player and now he’s ours so I got a chance to sit down with him at length as well, talk about expectations and what our team is all about. I’m really glad we were able to add him."

The Giants want former team captains and the right group of players to consist of the locker room. While it's easy to criticize them now, as they have often times decided to pass up maximizing the talent on their roster in trades to instead improve their team culture, they probably deserve more time. The current Giants regime has now been in place for just over a year.