The NY Giants Player Who Has "Most at Stake" This Preseason

The Giants have several players fighting for roles on their roster this preseason, but one is likely feeling the most pressure.

Aug 4, 2025; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants offensive tackle Evan Neal (73) on the field during training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

While several members of the New York Giants roster have already been buried in intense competition for coveted jobs in the first week of training camp, the heat only gets turned up a notch once things transition into some preseason affairs with opponents in a different colored jersey. 

That is where the Giants find themselves ahead of their first preseason contest with the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park. After several practices in East Rutherford, where a few players have stood out from the pack and others have shown progress, it’s time to take the next step and see how they fare against live action.

Many fans will be watching to see which players can take a lead in critical position battles and which can show additional growth in their new roles to help secure their place for the upcoming season.

That said, there is pressure to do well given the reps are limited to impress the coaching staff and earn their nod to the 53-man roster. 

One could argue a few names are feeling the bulk of that pressure as Saturday’s game looms large. Still, we’d say none stand out more than offensive lineman Evan Neal, whose entire future with the Giants organization hangs in the balance of how he looks at his newly assigned place on the offensive front. 

Neal, who was taken No. 7 overall in the 2022 draft as an elite pass-blocking right tackle during his time at Alabama, is being asked to do something that not many NFL linemen want to do after they’ve made it to the highest level of football. 

The Giants have tasked the 6-foot-7, 340-pound lineman with switching from his area of comfort on the right side of the front to the inside at guard, a position he hasn’t played a heavy amount of snaps at since his freshman season in college. 

The transition began in the spring at OTAs and has continued into the first 10 camp practices with Neal fully embracing the opportunity to still be a relevant face in the Giants system. He has been taking reps with the first and second team units at both guard slots and has shown decent flashes in protecting the interior against the team’s slew of pass rushers. 

Both the Giants and Neal need this new experiment to work for entirely different reasons. For the team, the interior of their offensive line is arguably their biggest area of concern heading into the season, with no definitive answers at the starting roles despite bringing both Jon Runyan and Greg Van Roten back, who are projected to lead the depth chart.

September 21, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) rushes New York Giants offensive tackle Evan Neal (73) during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

For Neal, his initial journey at right tackle just hasn’t panned out the way most experts thought when New York drafted him. He has missed a few games in each of his first three seasons with injuries and has been outmatched by elite edge rushers who have carved 11 sacks and 85 pressures out of him in that span, including a high of 39 as a rookie. 

That performance has put Neal on the brink of being a roster casualty as he enters his fourth season with the franchise, which didn’t elect to buy into his rookie option for the 2026 season. He’s already been replaced as the starting right tackle hole by Jermaine Eluemunor and a few free agent additions who can supply depth to both sides.

That means the only way he has a chance to regain life and the support of the fanbase is by working hard in developing his new tough job and proving he deserves a new commitment from the Giants and can be the talented blocker they selected him to be when he arrived in East Rutherford three years ago. 

If anything, Neal has some unique intangibles to use to his advantage in playing guard, such as his size and refined physical shape that will allow him to draw first contact and push pressures upfield to open up gaps for the offense. 

He could be a huge help to someone like John Michael Schmitz, who has lacked the same strength in slowing down bull rushes from the middle. 

The run game is likely to benefit the most from the change, particularly since Neal has shown promise and even finished first in the linemen room with an 80.6 run grade last season. The Giants' run operation ranked near the bottom in several key metrics, largely due to their inability to create lanes for their ball carriers. 

All of that hopes to change this season as the Giants have a new duo who can pack a punch in different ways in Tyrone Tracy and rookie bruiser back Cam Skattebo. The aim would be for the huddle to tire out defenses on early downs with their rushers and then open up opportunities for Russell Wilson and the passing game to go deep. 

With Neal’s unusual intangibles and desire to salvage his tenure with the Giants, this is all possible, and his change could be the secret weapon he needs to turn things around and start to see success as a high-value draft pick of the current regime. 

As the first preseason game in Buffalo draws near, he has yet to hit his first real test against competition that isn’t wearing the same “NY” labeled helmet as him. The question now becomes whether he will actually be able to play against the Bills, as he was sidelined during the team’s Thursday cards practice.

For his sake, he’ll be ready to go against Buffalo, as he has a lot on the line to find a new home at guard, and so does the health of the Giants' depth chart at the position leave a lot at stake as well.

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