The New York Giants have been without third-year right tackle Evan Neal to begin this summer’s training camp. The former 2022 top-10 draft pick was placed on the PUP list last week as he continues to recover from an ankle injury that ended his 2023 season prematurely.
Giants RT Evan Neal is still recovering from his ankle surgery
Neal’s injury was initially believed to be an ankle sprain that should have kept him sidelined for a short period of time. The team revealed that the ankle injury was aggravated and “ultimately diagnosed as a small fracture.”
According to Pat Leonard of the NY Daily News, the Giants initially “misdiagnosed” Neal’s injury as a sprain:
“Neal has been rehabilitating a surgically repaired left ankle that was initially misdiagnosed as a sprain. He did limited and individual reps early in the spring, but he was noticeably dialed back and separate from the rest of the team late during OTAs into minicamp.”
In an article that Leonard published back in December, he wondered if Neal’s recovery time could have been shorter had the team’s medical staff had the diagnosis right from the onset:
“It’s also fair to wonder if surgery could have been avoided — or at least been done earlier — if the initial diagnosis had been different.”
Neal has been recovering from this injury since Week 9 of last season (Nov. 5). It’s interesting to compare and contrast the recovery time between Neal and another notable Giants player who suffered a significant injury in that same game: QB Daniel Jones.
The Giants’ Week 9 matchup with the Raiders was the game where they lost both Neal to an ankle fracture and Jones to a torn ACL. Eight months later, Neal is still physically unable to perform. Jones, meanwhile, was a full participant at Wednesday’s practice.
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Is it too late for Neal to turn his career around?
To say Neal’s NFL career has gotten off to a rocky start would be putting it gently. The former first-round pick has struggled with injuries throughout the first two seasons of his career and has been a well-below-average player when he is healthy and on the field.
As a rookie in 2022, Neal missed four games due to a knee injury. He started 13 games for the Giants, but was considered a liability on the field as he surrendered 39 total pressures and seven sacks, committed seven penalties, and earned just a 44.1 overall Pro Football Focus grade across 738 snaps. In 2023, the story was similar, as Neal’s PFF grade dropped to 39.8 overall as he let up 29 pressures and five sacks with five penalties committed across 460 snaps.
It seems like many Giants fans have already given up on Neal. It’s been just two years and some change since the Giants drafted him out of Alabama with the No. 7 overall pick in the draft. But Neal has failed to live up to the expectations of his draft stock and has shown little-to-no signs of improvement across his first two seasons.
There is still hope for Neal, however, as general manager Joe Schoen told the media on Wednesday that Neal isn’t “far off” from making his return to the practice field. If he can get back on the field soon and turn in a solid summer of practices, Neal might have a chance to keep his starting right tackle job. But it will be a make-or-break third season for the 23-year-old as he aims to turn his NFL career around and remain a member of the New York Giants.
