Max Starks believes the Giants acquired the No. 1 participant within the 2022 NFL Draft with the No. 7 choose.
“Evan Neal was my No. 1 prospect within the draft, and I used to be shocked Jacksonville didn’t take him,” Starks, 40, a two-time Tremendous Bowl profitable Pittsburgh Steelers deal with, instructed the Every day Information. “Each group is constructed from the skin now within the NFL — from broad receivers to offensive tackles to quarterbacks — and also you construct in.
“So I used to be shocked Jacksonville didn’t take him,” added Starks, an NFL analyst for the Steelers, ESPN and Sirius XM who referred to as the draft. “Clearly Ickey Ekwonu went [to Carolina] the choose earlier than. However for the Giants, I feel they acquired the perfect one.”
NFL analyst Brian Baldinger mentioned Neal’s 6-7, 351-pound dimension alone was a uncommon trait, even when he first confirmed up as a freshman at Alabama.
“I used to be speaking to Patrick Surtain about him and requested what do you keep in mind about Evan Neal coming to Tuscaloosa? He mentioned, ‘Baldy, man, that’s the most important elephant I’ve ever seen,’” mentioned Baldinger, who performed 11 seasons on the O-line for the Cowboys, Colts and Eagles.
“He simply got here in large, with an enormous professional physique at age 18, then performed left guard, proper deal with and left deal with,” Baldinger, 62, added. “I respect that.”
Willie Colon, a former Tremendous Bowl champ with the Steelers, performed each guard and deal with throughout his profession. And he mentioned Neal’s flipping from proper to left deal with so naturally at his dimension was spectacular.
“It’s extra his expertise plus his teaching, the truth that at his dimension, they will make him comfy to play guard or kick out to left deal with,” Colon mentioned at his charity golf outing in Summit, N.J. “As a result of I feel it’s approach tougher to go from proper deal with to left deal with. Inside you may be shielded from the middle or no matter. However to go to proper deal with, left deal with, it simply reveals Goddamn, the child’s acquired a number of expertise.”
Let’s face it: the Giants’ offensive line has been an annual drawback for too lengthy. A participant this imposing is lengthy overdue.
“The Giants have been plagued with unhealthy O-line play for some time,” Colon mentioned. “You’ve gotta begin getting some guys who can ball, who you are feeling like may be part of your group for the following 5, 6 years. And the actual fact is he’s 6-7, 350. His athleticism’s by means of the roof. And he’s performed at an elite stage for a very long time towards some large time opponents in faculty.”
Neal, 21, performed 13 video games at left guard for the Crimson Tide in 2019, 12 video games at proper deal with in 2020 and 15 at left deal with in his last 12 months with Nick Saban final fall.
The Giants have began him at proper deal with, with 2020 No. 4 total choose Andrew Thomas on the left aspect.
The primary-team O-line at Thursday’s OTA follow noticed free agent signing Mark Glowinski at proper guard, free agent signing Jon Feliciano at heart, incumbent Shane Lemieux at left guard and Korey Cunningham at left deal with (with Thomas recovering from left ankle surgical procedure).
Neal mentioned it was good to get again on the sphere at follow in his stance on the fitting aspect, because it has been greater than a 12 months since he’s performed there.
“Introduced again some fairly good nostalgia,” he mentioned with a smile.
Expectations shall be excessive for Neal proper out of the gate. Giants offensive line coach Bobby Johnson mentioned one in every of Neal’s defining qualities is that “he desires to be actually good. And the extra you speak to him, you discover out it’s not lip service. It’s actual.”
“Evan places a number of stress on himself,” Johnson mentioned. “He was drafted within the high 10 and he got here to New York Metropolis. That alone is sufficient stress to crush a participant… One among my keys with him proper now's, ‘Hey, my job is to teach you. Should you want any stress utilized, let me do it.’”
Quarterback Daniel Jones naturally was “excited” to see the Giants draft a bookend deal with and in addition commented on Neal’s drive to enhance.
“Evan has seemed nice up to now, and you'll inform he actually desires to study it. He desires to select it up,” Jones mentioned. “It’s essential to him. He’s working laborious.”
Whereas Neal is quiet and understated, he additionally has a nasty aspect that he lets out on the sphere. That’s why, though he digs into his early offseason studying, he’d somewhat follow in pads.
“We hit an entire lot at Alabama, so I assume Coach Saban made me that approach,” he mentioned with amusing. “There’s a time and place for the whole lot, however proper now simply making an attempt to get the basics down and get higher.”
Baldinger mentioned Neal popping out of Saban’s gauntlet so sturdy is not any small factor.
“I respect that for a man that lined up and performed 41 straight video games in that convention,” Baldinger mentioned. “Initially you’re getting beat up on daily basis in follow by Nick. Then you definately’re going out towards the nation’s finest each Saturday and also you’re holding up. And also you’ve carried out it for 3 years in a row. I feel that’s the last word warrior check.”
Technically, Baldinger mentioned Neal “doesn’t appear like he has a number of the points Andrew [Thomas] had popping out of Georgia.”
“They bragged about [Thomas’] athletic means,” Baldinger mentioned. “That’s solely as a result of his ft had been by no means within the floor. As soon as he acquired his ft within the floor he grew to become a greater participant. Evan Neal’s ft appear like they’re within the floor to me.”
Regardless of his mammoth dimension, Baldinger mentioned he believes Neal is greater than succesful than shifting his ft to get outdoors on stretch runs in Brian Daboll’s offense.
“Dion Dawkins did that at Buffalo,” Baldinger mentioned. “No person thought he might play deal with within the NFL, now he’s began [five] straight years for Buffalo. I feel [Neal] can do all that stuff properly sufficient. You’re not going to Alabama and never having the ability to run.”
Though the Giants’ plan is to play Thomas on the left aspect and Neal on the fitting, Starks mentioned Neal’s versatility at deal with additionally makes him a greater match for the Giants than Ekwonu would have been out of N.C. State — in case Thomas will get damage or in the future isn’t with the group.
“I felt he was essentially the most versatile, whereas Ickey is extra of a real proper deal with, most likely might play some guard for you,” Starks mentioned. ”He doesn’t have the flexibility but, I don’t assume, to play left deal with — whereas Evan Neal is a plug and play starter at no matter place you wish to put him in.”
Baldinger mentioned the movie reveals that Neal is “a waist bender, not a knee bender,” as evidenced by his means to play guard. “So he’s not gonna get overextended the way in which Andrew Thomas did loads his rookie 12 months.”
He mentioned at first, Neal is “large, simply large.” He’s acquired a large physique,” he mentioned. “It’s laborious to go round him. It’s laborious to undergo him. I can discover performs the place he’s off stability, the man kinda rocks him somewhat bit, they’re somewhat slower to recuperate. However these guys have a approach of turning the whole lot right into a wrestling match when that occurs. And that’s what you need to do.”
Baldinger additionally mentioned taking part in alongside Glowinski shall be key. He in contrast Eagles proper deal with Lane Johnson’s first-team All-Professional 2017 season with Brandon Brooks subsequent to him to Johnson’s different years when Brooks was damage or unavailable.
“You’re solely gonna be as robust because the guard subsequent to you,” Baldinger mentioned.
Giants GM Joe Schoen acknowledged that 8% of the NFL had medical points with Neal. SI.com reported it associated to Neal’s knee and hip. However the Giants’ medical doctors had been “wonderful with the whole lot,” and Neal’s sturdiness within the SEC bolstered their conclusions.
So that they drafted him, and in Neal’s phrases, “my goals got here true.”
Now he’s out to validate their confidence in him.
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