Can Neal save his career as a Giant with a move to guard?
There are a whole host of storylines to follow as the New York Giants progress through their off-season program and eventually through training camp and preseason.
One of the most important will be how the offensive line comes together. The Giants’ offensive line looks to be set at four of the five positions, but there’s questions as to who will man the second guard spot opposite Jon Runyan Jr.
That, of course, touches on one of the other major threads to follow: The transition of Evan Neal from right tackle inside to guard.
Neal was unsurprisingly the subject of a significant part of offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo’s media availability at the Giants’ mandatory minicamp on Tuesday.
And thus far, Bricillo says, Neal is faring well in his transition from tackle to guard.
“He’s doing well so far,” Bricillo said. “Excited to see when we put pads on, you know, what happens. But he’s embraced it. We’ve embraced it. It’s been good so far.”
There were some questions, from myself included, as to whether Neal’s stature at 6-foot-7 would pose a problem at guard. Defensive tackles are, almost as a rule, shorter, stouter, and better leveraged than taller, longer edge rushers.
Bricillo isn’t certain that Neal’s size won’t be a problem at guard, but there have been enough players to move inside from tackle that he think it can be a successful transition.
“Throughout the NFL, plenty of guys have moved from tackle to guard,” Bricillo said. “So, we’ll see how it goes.”
There is precedent for a big tackle successfully playing guard. Former Geoff Schwartz was nearly as big as Neal at 6-foot-6, 340 pounds and played both guard and tackle over the course of his career. While his career was curtailed by injury, he was also among the NFL’s best guards when healthy.
Neal was seen by media at left guard during OTAs. He lined up at both left and right guard during Tuesday’s minicamp practice.
“He’s swung, he’s played both [guard positions],” Bricillo said. “I think initially when we had done it, his familiarity of having played left guard when he was at Alabama. So there’s probably a goal for that of, ‘okay, hey, we’ll make it a switch. Let’s go ahead and feel comfortable to that’. But he’s now played both sides and he’ll continue to play both sides.”
Bricillo also addressed concerns regarding Neal’s footwork, and how changing positions might impact it. He didn’t indicate that Neal would need to make tremendous changes with respect to the fundamental technique of his pass sets and run blocking.
“We don’t change a whole lot, as far as I would say, the set angles that you would employ more often than not,” Bricillo said. “It might be a little different at guard versus tackle. But otherwise the core fundamentals of offensive line play, at least for myself, don’t differ a whole lot except for set angles I would say.”
While there’s concern here on the outside with regards to the mechanics of playing guard — with leverage, side, and footwork — Bricillo cites the mental differences as the biggest hurdle for Neal.
“I just think so much is pre-snap, training your eyes and getting used to what can indicate something’s going to change,” he said. “Whether it’s when you’re playing tackle and you spend time there, a lot of times it’s off the edges and it’s safety rotations versus where your eyes need to be when you’re playing guard and how things might change. You might be relying upon the lineman’s alignment or linebacker’s alignment.”
That mental aspect, recognizing the “tells” for a defense’s intentions, is something that rarely comes across for fans at game speed. However, much of successful offensive line play comes down to knowing your assignment and understanding how you fit into the greater blocking scheme.
“So just I think training your eyes and the reaction,” Bricillo added. “Your rules will change to some extent. So just getting used to what your responses are when the picture changes.”
It’s been noted that Neal had been starting at left guard earlier in the spring while Jon Runyan Jr. worked his way back from injury. Runyan took some first-team snaps at left guard during 11-on-11 drills Tuesday. At the same time, it’s also been assumed that both Runyan and Greg Van Roten have the inside track to start. But in addition to confirming that Neal is practicing at both left and right guard, Bricillo indicated that there’s an open competition for the starting jobs.
“I think like anything else you’ve got to earn it every day and you have to earn it every year,” he said. “Nothing is assumed. So competition is a good healthy thing that we all believe firmly in.”
Not only did the Giants add a pair of veteran tackles (Stone Forsythe and James Hudson III) to be offensive tackle depth, they also drafted Marcus Mbow in the fifth round. At the time, the team stated that they faced a tough decision between Mbow and Cam Skattebo in the fourth round, and were thrilled that Mbow fell to them in the fifth. That elation certainly seems to still be in effect.
“Mbow’s a smart kid who cares, takes the job seriously, athletic, does a good job. He’s a rookie and there’s miles to go,” Bricillo said. “We’ll just keep working with him, I like how he approaches things so far.”
Thus far, Mbow has aligned at both tackle spots. They are not likely to limit him to those spots. As things stand now, it seems that the Giants are looking at Mbow as a “five-tool” utility backup lineman — a modern day Kevin Boothe. Bricillo acknowledged the importance of versatility and praised Mbow’s ability to play multiple positions.
“Versatility is important,” he said. “We preach that often about the more you can do the more you can do. Mbow has the athleticism and the mental capabilities to be able to go swing and play in four spots. We’ll keep working on him at different places as we have.
“It’s still early, [he’s a] rookie, no pads yet. We’ll just walk before we can run.”