The New York Giants established a foundation for last season’s rapid turnaround by selecting two starters in the first seven picks of the 2022 NFL draft. Yet, while edge-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux showed breakout potential late in his rookie year, right tackle Evan Neal struggled enough to have some already prepared to call him a bust.
One such detractor is Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine. He believes the Giants “should have serious concerns” about the former Alabama standout after the way he toiled during his first year in the pros.
Ballentine isn’t the only one ready to call picking Neal a mistake. A re-drafting of 2022, written by Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports, has the Giants taking Washington State offensive tackle Abraham Lucas instead of Neal.
Fortunately, one of Neal’s former teammates believes the 22-year-old will still make the grade in the NFL.
Rough First Year Doesn’t Condemn Young Starter
Neal did have a rough time getting to grips with life in the pros. He’d been a dominant presence on the left side at Tuscaloosa, but things didn’t go anything close to as smoothly on the right.
Instead, Neal earned mediocre grades from Pro Football Focus for his performances during 13 starts. He graded 42.3 as a pass-blocker and 47.8 blocking for the run. Both numbers put Neal firmly in the bottom tiers, 75th and 74th, of all tackles graded, while he was also guilty of six false starts.
Technique was consistently below par from Neal, who lost matchups based on both speed and power. He was beaten with the latter by Carolina Panthers’ edge-rusher Brian Burns in Week 2, per John Ellis of Fox Sports:
Brian Burns beats Evan Neal for the sack.
The play was an ominous sign since 6’7″, 360-pound Neal outweighed Burns by 110 pounds. It wasn’t as if Neal compensated for getting bull-rushed by coping with speed around the corner.
He lost on the edge against Danielle Hunter when the Giants faced the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16:
Hunter finished the regular season meeting with two sacks and added another quarterback takedown when the Vikings and Giants renewed hostilities in the Wild Card Playoffs.
Although the Giants won the latter game 31-24, the contest was another example of how Neal had a hard time getting to grips with the pace of the pro game. His issues were summed up by this dismal number, referenced by ESPN’s Jordan Raanan:
Evan Neal had the lowest pass block win rate (71.9%) of any tackle in the wild-card round. It only added to his regular season struggles.
Would expect the Eagles to attack the rookie right tackle. Philly led the NFL with a ridiculous 70 sacks this season.
Raanan’s grim prediction proved prophetic when Haason Reddick toyed with Neal and logged 1.5 of the Philadelphia Eagles’ five sacks during a 38-7 defeat for the Giants in the Divisional Round.
Tough outings like this are why Ballentine included Neal on a list of possible draft busts. They are also why Trapasso thinks the Giants should have taken Lucas, who went on to start 16 games for the Seattle Seahawks.
Neal played out of position because 2020 fourth-overall pick Andrew Thomas manned left tackle. Thomas offers a roadmap for how Neal can take huge strides after a rookie year to forget.
Andrew Thomas the Blueprint for Turnaround
Like Neal, Thomas hardly hit the ground running when he entered the NFL. Instead, the ex-Georgia linchpin was guilty of 39 blown blocks and allowing 11 sacks as a rookie, according to Sports Info Solutions.
The turnaround since has been beyond impressive, with Thomas finishing 2022 yielding just four sacks. His pass-block and run-blocking points have all improved since Year 1.
Thomas is already what the Giants hope Neal becomes, and Eagles’ guard Landon Dickerson believes the latter will get there.
Dickerson told the New York Post “the more you do something the more experience you get at it. The NFL in itself is an adjustment and for him, getting used to the guys he’s playing around, the speed of the game, how the offense is run, the more time you spend in it the better you get at it.”
If Neal can cope better with how quickly things move in the big league, his raw physical tools will help him become a mauler on the outside. Then the Giants will have bookend tackles underpinning an O-line ready to be a team strength for years.
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Giants ‘Should Have Serious Concerns’ About Potential ‘Bust’