Ahead of their game against Washington Football Team, New York Giants announced that they were shuffling their offensive line, starting newly acquired Billy Price at centre.

Meanwhile, Nick Gates, who started every game at centre last season and Week 1 of 2021 for New York, will move to left guard against Washington.

The switcheroo in the offensive system was prompted by the injury to starting left guard Shane Lemieux. Lemieux left last week’s game against Denver with a knee injury.

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The Giants have acquired Price from the Cincinnati Bengals in a trade for defensive lineman B.J. Hill in August.

A former star at Ohio State, Price had not lived up to expectations in the NFL. Trey Hopkins had taken over at centre.

The former Ohio State centre was a hot prospect entering the 2018 draft, but suffered a torn pectoral muscle during his combine workout. He was never quite able to regain the form that once made him a coveted lineman, and Cincinnati ultimately made other plans, filling the spot with Trey Hopkins.  

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Ahead of the season, Price, who had one start last season, wasn’t expected to see much action. He started the 10 games in which he played as a rookie, but only nine in the past two seasons.

But now in Week 2 of the NFL season, Price finds himself in action against the Washington side.

Born on October 11, 1994, Price started out at Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio, where he played defensive line. Price was named First Team All-State and Division I Co-Defensive Player of the Year in Ohio as a senior in 2012. Price guided his Fitch team to postseason appearances in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons.

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Price, a 4-star prospect, chose Ohio State over Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Tennessee, and UCLA, among other schools. Price redshirted his freshman season in 2013, then went on to start all 55 games from 2014 to 2017, shattering OSU’s previous records for starts and consecutive starts of 50.

Price won the Rimington Trophy as the top college centre in 2017, was selected First Team All-Big Ten, and was a unanimous All-American as a senior with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Price was named team captain in 2016 and 2017.