When the New York Giants declined Evan Neal’s fifth-year option, it should have signaled the unofficial end of his disappointing time in East Rutherford. Instead, in the most shocking move of the offseason, Big Blue brought him back on a one-year, prove-it deal under new head coach John Harbaugh.
It is hard to tell who made the stranger choice: the Giants for bringing him back, or Neal for staying. Either the 25-year-old possesses an irrational amount of faith that Harbaugh and Co. can salvage him, or the rest of the league refused to take a flier on him.
Whatever the reason for this strange reunion, the experiment has already all but bottomed out. Neal moved from tackle to guard as a final attempt to save his job, but even the position change hasn't changed his fate. Unsurprisingly, he hasn't been heard from all camp. And now we know why.
When asked if there had been any Neal-related updates from training camp, Giants insider Dan Duggan all but confirmed his time in North Jersey has run out:
"Nothing to report. He's been glued to the third team at RG (although he did sneak in for a few snaps with the 2's today in the walk-through) and the 3's don't get many reps. Hard to see how he could make a real push for a spot"
That's the closest thing to an official unofficial ending as I've heard in a minute.
The writing is already on the wall for Evan Neal and the Giants
To say things haven't gone the way anyone hoped or wished for Neal would be the understatement of the year.
The Giants drafted the 6-foot-7, 340-pound Alabama product to be the bookend opposite star left tackle Andrew Thomas. The idea was that the two former SEC standouts would block Big Blue's offense into a new era of unprecedented success. But only one held up their end of the bargain.
To channel New Found Glory, since Neal arrived in North Jersey, it's been all downhill from here.
The former Alabama stud just never figured out how to adapt to the speed of the NFL. Which is shocking because there might not be a more athletic guy his size in the world. Yet, he could never overcome his slow footwork and lack of lateral agility. Injuries didn't exactly help his development either.
But man, how the mighty have fallen.
For a second there, Harbaugh handpicking the draft bust to come back almost felt like a prodigal son returning-type situation. After all, if anyone was going to get the most out of the former top-10 pick, the 63-year-old has just as good a shot as any, if not better. He's made a career out of getting the most out of his linemen, especially the overlooked ones. Not this time, apparently.
Duggan's camp update is a reminder that a great coach can give you a clean slate, but he can't magically make it click.
Maybe this whole thing was always more about eliminating any lingering “what if?” than actually expecting a miracle. The G-Men gave Neal every opportunity to figure it out. Instead, he’s spending camp with the third team, logging (for all intents and purposes) meaningless snaps that won't do much of anything to help his status. Sometimes a fresh start just confirms what everyone already knew.
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