Under their new front-office leadership, the New York Giants are about to embark on a crucial offseason. One insider believes general manager Joe Schoen will address one of the worst errors of his brief tenure.
NFL analyst Connor Hughes stated that he expects New York to “actively” look for right tackle Evan Neal’s successor this offseason in a Q&A mailbag for SNY. Since he was drafted by New York seventh overall in 2022, Neal has been among the worst offensive guards in the NFL. This season, Pro Football Focus graded him as the second-lowest tackle (39.8).
Over the previous two seasons, Alt, a unanimous All-American, gave up just one sack and a total of 13 pressures to the Fighting Irish.
In his three years at Penn State, Fashanu—who was named the 2023 Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year—allowed just 17 pressures and never gave up a sack.
Even if Alt and Fashanu are both capable of having successful NFL careers (and are probably better than Neal), they might not be the Giants’ best option right now. Given that they have one of the finest left tackles in the league in Andrew Thomas, the Giants don’t need a left tackle, and neither of the two possibilities has any experience playing right tackle.
In addition, the Giants have selected offensive lineman with three of their top-10 draft choices since 2014, as noted by ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. During that time, no other team has selected multiple offensive linemen with a top-10 pick. It might make sense to use the sixth pick on a different position given that Thomas is the only selection that has worked out and the team’s numerous gaps elsewhere.
The best way for New York to strengthen its offensive line may be to add a veteran in free agency; Onwenu and Eluemunor are two players to watch.
Carmen Bricillo, the offensive line coach for the recently hired Giants, has worked with both of the upcoming free agents. In particular, Onwenu had the finest season of his career in 2021—11 pressures, four QB hits, and two sacks—while Bricillo was his position coach in New England.
However the Giants decide to proceed, it is preferable to having Neal start at right tackle, where he has conceded 10 sacks and 82 pressures in just 20 career games.
