Evan Neal is entering a Giants camp where the margin for error is basically gone.
That’s the reality for a player taken seventh overall in 2022, because draft slot still matters when it comes with that kind of expectation. Top-10 picks are supposed to become core pieces, not regular offseason arguments about whether the team can justify keeping them around.
Neal’s résumé hasn’t helped him shake that pressure. He has appeared in only 29 of a possible 68 games since joining the league, and he didn’t play a regular-season snap last year.
Now he’s trying to carve out a future at guard after the tackle move never really took hold. That’s a tough place for a former premium pick to land.
The path in front of him isn’t exactly clear, either. Jon Runyan Jr. and Sisi Mauigoa are already ahead of him, and the Giants have Daniel Faalele, Lucas Patrick, Aaron Stinnie, and others in the mix for interior jobs.
Neal doesn’t just need to show up and look fine. He needs a camp that forces the coaches to rethink what they believe about him.
There is still something to work with. Neal has the size, the power, and the kind of physical traits that made him a first-round pick in the first place.
But the league has little patience for linemen who can’t stay available or settle into one spot. Eventually, upside stops counting for much.
The move inside makes sense, at least on paper. Neal looked overmatched too often at tackle, and guard gives him a cleaner chance to use his body without being isolated against edge rushers snap after snap.
Still, the standard is simple now. He has to block people in pads. The Giants need live reps that look like they belong on an NFL field.
If Neal can win one-on-ones, hold up against power, and look usable with the second unit, then the team can keep entertaining the idea that the experiment still has life. If he looks like the same player in a different spot, the answer becomes hard to avoid.
Joe Schoen doesn’t get credit for sticking with a bad pick just because it was a high one. What matters now is whether Neal can help the 2026 team. Camp has to decide it.
In Other News...
Giants Receiver Room Suddenly Has One Safe Spot Entering Camp
The Giants receiver room has rarely looked this unsettled heading into camp, and the latest wave of additions only underscores how much is still up for grabs. With training camp set to open July 28, the group now includes a mix of established veterans and developmental pieces, all trying to carve out roles around a depth chart that has been shaken by injuries and constant turnover.
Odell Beckham Jr. is back in the building after signing on June 1, giving the Giants a familiar name and a proven presence as they sort through the competition. But the real intrigue is in how the rest of the room sorts itself out, from Darius Slayton and Darnell Mooney to Calvin Austin III and the other challengers trying to force their way into the conversation before the first pads come on. [Read more 🡒]
This Quiet Giants Addition Could Change A Familiar Defensive Problem
Ar'Darius Washington arrives in New York with the kind of background that can quietly matter over the course of a season. The Giants liked enough of what they saw to add a safety who has already shown he can do more than one job in the back end, and his 2024 season in Baltimore offered a glimpse of why. He was around the ball, made plays in coverage and even found ways to affect the quarterback and run game, which is the sort of profile that can help a defense stay flexible when injuries or matchups start forcing adjustments.
For the Giants, the appeal goes beyond simply adding another body to the secondary. Washingtons versatility gives the coaching staff a chance to mix and match more freely in 2026, especially if they want to lean into different safety looks and keep opposing offenses guessing. The bigger question is how much of that value he can bring after the injury setback he dealt with in 2025, even with the encouraging way he got back on the field late in the year. [Read more 🡒]
Leonard Williams Trade Is Suddenly A Tougher Giants Sell
When the Giants moved Leonard Williams at the 2023 trade deadline, the deal looked like a straightforward future play: a second-round pick in 2024 and a fifth-rounder in 2025, with New York leaning into the idea that it had turned a veteran defender into draft capital. At the time, it was easy to frame the move as part of a broader reset, the kind of transaction that can make sense for a team trying to balance present needs with long-term flexibility.
Williams has complicated that view in Seattle. He has settled in as a key piece of the Seahawks defense and earned his first All-Pro nomination, a reminder that the Giants did not just trade away a name, they moved a player who still had plenty left in the tank. For New York, that makes the old deadline decision a little harder to file away as a clean win or loss, especially with Williams now drawing recognition as one of the leagues top defensive tackles. [Read more 🡒]