Like the offense as a whole, I'm willing to give him a mulligan for last year.
The entire year, from the start of camp, was a calamity.
Sometimes a team just has a "bad year". What can you say when, in less than 20 days, you lose Darren Waller, Andrew Thomas and Saquon Barkley? I realize there's not a lot of patiences for that given the larger picture/10+ years of futility.
As for Neal - he got a concussion that lasted a while (I was disappointed with missed practices vs. Hutchinson), then more injuries. If you watch some of the film breakdowns by knowledgable OL people (like Skinner on Talkin Giants) - it appears he started settling down and was showing improvement over year 1. (Trending in the right direction.)
I think there's reasons to be optimistic and pessimistic, and I agree with the above comment if he struggles early again, you've got to pull the plug. The goal isn't Evan Neal at RT, the goal is to win football games.
The other performance driver is Schmitz. Quite frankly, it's tough not to be underwhelmed by his play last year considering the hype. He does things well, but looked like a liability in other areas and his play declined as the year went. For me, it was shades of Weston Richburg just never quite making it. Big year for him, to prove he can get this thing turned around.
The entire year, from the start of camp, was a calamity.
Sometimes a team just has a "bad year". What can you say when, in less than 20 days, you lose Darren Waller, Andrew Thomas and Saquon Barkley? I realize there's not a lot of patiences for that given the larger picture/10+ years of futility.
As for Neal - he got a concussion that lasted a while (I was disappointed with missed practices vs. Hutchinson), then more injuries. If you watch some of the film breakdowns by knowledgable OL people (like Skinner on Talkin Giants) - it appears he started settling down and was showing improvement over year 1. (Trending in the right direction.)
I think there's reasons to be optimistic and pessimistic, and I agree with the above comment if he struggles early again, you've got to pull the plug. The goal isn't Evan Neal at RT, the goal is to win football games.
The other performance driver is Schmitz. Quite frankly, it's tough not to be underwhelmed by his play last year considering the hype. He does things well, but looked like a liability in other areas and his play declined as the year went. For me, it was shades of Weston Richburg just never quite making it. Big year for him, to prove he can get this thing turned around.