Joe Schoen needs to get Adam Schefter on the phone right now. The New York Giants have a clear problem on the back end of their offensive line, where Evan Neal and Joshua Ezeudu are once again failing to make an impact in training camp.
Both 2022 draft picks are buried on the depth chart, taking up space that head coach John Harbaugh could use on younger, developmental players.
Instead of releasing them outright, Schoen should pretend to release them outright, using a sneaky psychological tactic to spark trade talks. By leaking a report to a renowned insider that the team plans to release the underwhelming duo, the Giants can force offensive line-needy teams to act.
The New England Patriots just did exactly that. Reports surfaced that New England was planning on waiving Caedan Wallace. Not an afternoon later, the Miami Dolphins called the Pats and made a trade for him before he hit the waiver wire. The trade was ultimately a late-round pick swap, with the Patriots getting Miami's sixth-round pick for Wallace and New England's seventh.
It's time for Schoen to use that same fear of missing out to see if he can trick a team into giving the Giants a late-round pick rather than releasing them for nothing.
The Giants have their own Caedan Wallace situations to exploit
The parallels between Wallace, Neal, and Ezeudu couldn't be more obvious. They're all high draft picks who have struggled transitioning to the NFL.
Wallace was taken with the 68th pick in the 2024 Draft. Over two seasons, he has appeared in just 10 games, starting only two. Injuries and an overwhelming lack of consistency have plagued his career. It doesn't help that he was viewed as a huge reach on draft day, with several draft gurus having a fifth- or sixth-round tag for the former Penn State tackle.
That's not too far off from Ezeudu, who was taken 67th overall in the 2022 Draft out of UNC. Through four seasons, the 6-foot-4, 310-pounder has only appeared in 33 games, starting only 10. He played guard in college, but was moved around between guard and tackle when he came to the NFL. Like Wallace, injuries have played a big part in his development, or lack thereof.
Even when he sees the field, it's not great. In the 33 games he has played, he has allowed 10 sacks and 42 pressures while committing 12 penalties. That's just not going to cut it.
And then there's Neal. Coming out of Alabama, the 6-foot-7, 340-pounder was as close to a sure thing as you could get. His size, athleticism, and power all figured to translate into immediate success, giving the G-Men their bookend tackle opposite Andrew Thomas for the next decade-plus. Wrong.
Injuries and poor technique crushed the seventh-overall pick's potential. Over four seasons, he has played in 29 games, starting 27. The 25-year-old switched from tackle to guard over the last year-plus to try to salvage what's left of his career, but that hasn't exactly changed anything. After seeing no action through the start of last season, he was placed on IR, never even seeing a snap.
You could imagine how shocking it was that Harbaugh wanted to bring both Neal and Ezeudu back on one-year "prove-it" deals this offseason, especially after the Giants declined Neal's fifth-year option.
Neither player figures to be here for the long haul. While Harbs likely held out hope that a fresh staff could spark a better-late-than-never breakout, training camp has exposed the same limitations and inconsistencies that derailed their early careers.
Hanging onto guys because of where they were drafted -- or because of who drafted them -- is exactly how rebuilding teams get stuck, and Schoen can’t keep burning valuable roster spots on players who simply haven’t shown enough to stick.
The writing is on the wall, and New England literally just showed New York how to squeeze something out of a player it was ready to cut. It’s time to leak the report, force a desperate team’s hand, and grab whatever late-round pick swap you can get. Getting anything for two guys who'll likely be cut anyway beats watching them walk out the door for nothing.
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