Giants’ OT Evan Neal might need…..

Giants’ OT Evan Neal might need offseason ankle surgery

Second-year player could go under the knife

Carolina Panthers v New York Giants

Last Monday, the struggling right tackle Evan Neal’s second NFL season came to an official end when the New York Giants placed him on injured reserve.

Due to two ankle issues, Neal played in just seven games this season. Giants head coach Brian Daboll disclosed on Tuesday that Neal may require offseason surgery.

“Evan has done everything he could have done to get here, so there will be issues later on, but the young man has done everything he could have done,” Daboll remarked. It simply didn’t work out.

When asked if “stuff down the road” meant surgery in particular, Daboll replied, “Yeah.”

Neal, the seventh overall choice in the 2022 NFL Draft, struggled mightily in his right tackle rookie campaign with the Giants. In the Pro Football Focus grading system, he was the least ranked tackle out of the 57 qualifiers, and he allowed the third-most pressures of any NFL lineman with 52.

Nothing about his second season improved.

Neal is ranked No. 87 by PFF out of 92 qualifiers who have played at least 210 snaps. His pass-blocking efficiency ratings (94.0 and 94.4) and overall grades (41.8 in 2022 and 39.8 in 2023) were nearly comparable.

Neal had an outburst along the way against supporters who were skeptical of him, questioning whether he would play guard in 2024 because he was an offensive lineman by birth.

The Giants have given up 77 sacks, 16 more than any other NFL team. Left tackle Andrew Thomas and center John Michael Schmitz are building blocks, but there are questions about every other offensive lineman on the roster.

Including Neal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *