How confident are you about Neal's ability to play guard?

[DaveBrown74]

I keep reading posts in which people who are advocating for drafting Joe Alt or some other high end tackle suggest simply sliding Neal over to guard to make room for Alt (or whichever OT we draft) at RT.

How confident are you that Neal can make this switch and play adequately as an NFL guard? How many active starting NFL guards are 6'7" or taller and have that high a center of gravity? If Neal was awful at OT, the position he played throughout his time at Alabama, why would he be a good guard?

[madbadger]

I keep reading posts in which people who are advocating for drafting Joe Alt or some other high end tackle suggest simply sliding Neal over to guard to make room for Alt (or whichever OT we draft) at RT.

How confident are you that Neal can make this switch and play adequately as an NFL guard? How many active starting NFL guards are 6'7" or taller and have that high a center of gravity? If Neal was awful at OT, the position he played throughout his time at Alabama, why would he be a good guard?

Two things. Andrus Peat of the Saints is 6-7 and while he isn't great he's better than any guard we've had since we waived Kevin Zeitler. Secondly Neal started his freshman year at Alabama at left guard and he was very effective. He only moved to tackle his sophomore year.

I just have a hard time writing off the seventh pick overall after two years. I don't think he can play tackle in the NFL so I'd like to see what he can do. There is a precedent. Ereck Flowers was a train wreck at tackle but a pro bowler at guard and he was 6-6. I don't think an inch will make or break Neal.

[Jclayton92]

A lot of analytical people that I've seen evaluate his game think he won't be a good guard.

[Sem]

Until I actually see him at Guard I can't have any confidence that Neal can be successful there. However if the coaching staff thinks he can be a plus Guard then I would welcome the opportunity to see him try to resuscitate his career there.

I am against drafting another LT only to have him switch sides and hope he can become a top RT. Draft or sign a RT!!

[Topshelf21]

If Neal was awful at OT, the position he played throughout his time at Alabama, why would he be a good guard?

To be frank, I don't think he could possibly play worse at RG than he did at RT!!!

As another poster stated, even Erick Flowers became extremely serviceable when moved from T to G..... and I would have bet my last dollar he was washed-up fodder after he was here.

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[Stringer Bell]

I keep reading posts in which people who are advocating for drafting Joe Alt or some other high end tackle suggest simply sliding Neal over to guard to make room for Alt (or whichever OT we draft) at RT.

How confident are you that Neal can make this switch and play adequately as an NFL guard? How many active starting NFL guards are 6'7" or taller and have that high a center of gravity? If Neal was awful at OT, the position he played throughout his time at Alabama, why would he be a good guard?

I have no idea whether or not he can play guard. I am 100% certain that he can't play tackle.

I've said many times, I'm not in favor of using #6 on a LT and moving him to RT. You can't invest that high of a pick on someone and then switch their position. But I would like to see a new RT brought in and have them try Neal at RG. Maybe he fails there, too, but they have to try and get something out of their investment.

[uconnjack8]

His previous experience at LG is a positive,  but I have no idea if he can be a successful NFL guard. 

I think they may need to try it to see if they can salvage some productivity for a very high pick. 

Slow out of the stance isn't something that you can be at any NFL OL position.

[Ed Vette]

I'm on record saying I don't have a Lot of confidence in him at Guard. Top heavy, poor lateral, poor use of hands, slow to punch, high bend and leans. Slow off the snap. Is that enough?

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I'm with you Ed...not real confident. People think, "oh well, he isn't working out at the position he's spent years grooming for...well, we'll just switch positions and viola...problem solved". It ain't that easy to start over everything you've been trained to do for many years and learn a different position. Indeed, there are guys who get trained all across the line and have experience at every position. Neal ain't one of them!

It might work, but you can't go into the season assuming that will be no problem at all...let's draft a tackle. It would be interesting to have a tackle that is adequate in order to try Neal at guard, but we don't have that luxury to assume he would move over and everything would work like clockwork...and you know what happens when you assume 

[spiderblue43]

I have little confidence Neal can even stay on the field, much less serving well at guard. He's a complete bust at tackle that we can hope be salvaged. Ugh. Worth a shot, I suppose.

[Painter]

There is no basis for anyone here to guess, much less to know, whether Evan Neal would be better suited at OG than at RT. Few if any, doubted his ability to succeed as the top OT in the 2022 Draft any more than was so with Andrew Thomas who, as it turned out, struggled no less in his first 20 starts than has Neal. So, who is to say that we won't end up with a pair of solid bookends?

Nor do we know whether the Giants have any intention to draft Joe Alt when for now at least the WAG consensus strongly suggests otherwise. In any case, let's not start rooting against Neal as some so called, Giants fans seem eager to do where Daniel Jones is the target.

Cheers!

[Ed Vette]

He's had limited game experience so I would give him another season and work with the new O line Coach to establish himself as the RT. But have a good backup plan.

[4 Aces]

Since I think he'd be an excellent G, I'll jump in.....

Let me start by saying I think he showed progress at RT last year and I have no issue giving him more time there.

That said, I have a strong feeling G would be his best position.

*He was an excellent G at Alabama.

*Part of the reason he was considered a slam-dunk high in the draft was because if he flopped at T, he'd be a great G worst-case scenario. (It was right there in the scouting report.)

*His issues (at least to me) are clearly playing in space related. When he's able to keep his balance and lock on to somebody, it's over. I see a guy extremely tough to beat in a phone booth. The one thing I'd worry about is picking up stunts inside - I see no reason he'd be any better at it at G than T.

In terms of his height, teams generally want shorter guys inside so they don't lose leverage to squatty, powerful DTs. And they also want to give the QB a clean scan of the field, and a throwing lane. I'd imagine Neal's head would block out the sun. I still think he'd be far better inside than out.

I know a lot of people would throw the remote, but you have to be careful passing on Alt because you don't need him. You just gave up almost 100 sacks, and this guy can really help you. Especially if you want to attack the edges like Daboll and Kafka do. This guy's got all the athleticism in the world to do those outside zones. That's Barkley's favorite play - but they've never had an OL that can block it.

[Sem]

Just spitballing here regarding Evan Neal.

*Slow*
I think there may be three distinct types of being slow. Which is it?

  - is he just physically slow? (physical)
  - is he just slow at processing? (mental)
  - is he just naturally slow at reacting? (combination of both).


I coached youth basketball for years. Age 14-15 for a few years and 16-18 for my final years.

We had some kids that were physically slow. No matter how much they practiced, no matter how fast they processed what was in front of them, they were just slow moving, physically.

We had kids that could play fast but kept getting beat to the spot because it took them too long to recognize and process. These kids would generally get better as the season went on, mostly due the the hours spent practicing, and their processing time became became quicker.

And we had kids that were slow at reacting to what was in front of them. These kids I used to call "watchers" (but only to myself). You could watch their eyes and/or head track what was happening in front of them, prior to moving. In other words, unlike the previous group, they processed fine. It just took them a couple extra milliseconds to physically react.

The second two examples are similar, if not related, yet distinctly different.

Finally, during all my years coaching we had two kids whose quickness
was above the rest of the team and league. They both went on to play college soccer and both played in the NCAA Division 1 Soccer Tournament.

[ozzie]

I think a lot of it will come down to our new O-Line coach. He supposedly took a rag tag bunch in Vegas and made them a serviceable unit. Fingers crossed that he can accomplish that with Neal somewhere along the O-line.