Things weren't supposed to go down this way for former Alabama football standout offensive lineman Evan Neal. He was a first-round pick with the NY Giants in 2022 and he was expected to be a stud tackle on the other end of the line from Andrew Thomas.
Instead, there's no way back for him in East Rutherford. On Sunday, the inactives were just announced for the G-Men going up against Washington in Week 1. In a bit of a stunner, it was announced that Neal is on that list. That's right, he's a healthy scratch to open the new season. Unreal:
Evan Neal wearing sneakers and not participating in pregame warmups (same with rookie TE Thomas Fidone). So looks like he'll be a healthy scratch.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) September 7, 2025
Evan Neal being a 'healthy scratch' with the NY Giants for Week 1 is a bit of a shock
This really is a bummer for Neal. This offseason, the Giants and Brian Daboll moved him from tackle to guard to try and revive his career. It was made quite clear that he didn't have a future at tackle and that a move to the inside could be just what he needed to live up to his hype.
While Neal showed improvements at times, he still had a ton of struggles and fans were growing even more frustrated with his play both during preseason action and in practices. The fact that he's now a third-string guard is not something anyone imagined when he was drafted.
Evan Neal took first-team reps for half of training camp and now it looks like he will be a healthy scratch in Week 1. #Giants did everything they could to try to help him salvage career this preseason, including feeding confidence-building messages of how good he looked to the…
— Ryan Dunleavy (@rydunleavy) September 7, 2025
So, what's next for Neal? After Sunday's game, Daboll will surely be asked about the decision here and he'll likely give some sort of a vanilla response. The fact of the matter, though, is that the Giants don't think Neal can make a difference for them moving forward.
Coming out of Alabama in 2023, Neal was without question one of the top players available to make plays in the trenches. Giants fans were fired up over Joe Schoen bringing in him and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Now, though, all signs are pointing to Neal's career in blue already being over.