Giants activate Evan Neal off PUP list with role uncertain

Evan Neal finally returned to practice Sunday, but his path to starting another game for the Giants remains murky.

The Giants activated their 2022 first-round draft pick from the physically unable to perform list and put him through individual drills for the first time this summer.

Unlike spring camp, however, the starting right tackle job that once belonged to Neal is now occupied by Jermaine Eluemunor and not by a placeholder.

“I’m not owed anything,” Neal said. “I can’t feel like I deserve anything. All I want is what I work for.”

Neal missed 10 of the final 11 games last season with what was originally diagnosed as a sprain but later turned out to be a fractured bone in his ankle.

He underwent surgery on Jan. 2.

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“I have no ill will whatsoever,” Neal said. “The Giants training staff has done everything that they can to help me get back healthy. Just can’t help a misdiagnosis. Things like that happen. It’s nobody’s fault. … It definitely kind of caught me [out of] left field — really, everybody because it was something that initially kind of wasn’t seen on the initial scan.”

Neal’s career feels like it is at a crossroads given that he is halfway through his $24.5 million contract, his first two seasons (10 sacks allowed in 20 games) were a major disappointment and Eluemunor — who originally was signed to play left guard — is a more-established right tackle.

“It’s a big year for me. I’m not going to sit here and act like it’s not,” Neal said. “The past two years, they weren’t perfect by any means, but I feel like they were solid. They definitely weren’t what I wanted them to be, but a lot of things that happened were just out of my control — just like the future is out of my control. I can only control the present and how I approach every single day, and that will be a big indication of my future.”

General manager Joe Schoen said at the end of last season that Neal “needs to play better.”

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“That’s his job to evaluate the players, and if he thinks I need to play better, then hell, I’d be the first person to tell myself that I need to play better,” Neal said. “It really doesn’t matter whether it comes out of Joe’s mouth or anybody’s mouth. I’m always going to be the harshest critic on myself, so, yeah, I need to play better.”

So, what if he is asked to be a backup to both Eluemunor and left tackle Andrew Thomas when the season starts?

Or what if he is asked to practice at guard — a position he played for one of his three years as a stud prospect at Alabama but staunchly refused to consider when asked by the media last season?

“Whatever role the team has for me, I’m going to embrace it,” Neal said. “So, whether that’s starting or not starting, I’m here to contribute to the team, and I’m going to do everything in my power to do so.”

Neal, whose missteps last season included blasting Giants fans who were critical of his play, struck a humble chord over seven minutes as he faced questions for the first time since his injury was updated in December.

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He admitted he has been tested “quite a lot” mentally and physically during his recovery.

“It was just another thing that I was going to have to overcome,” Neal said. “I’m built for it, and I feel like I’ve come back stronger. So, if anything, I feel like it helped me.”

One of new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo’s biggest tasks is to help salvage the former No. 7 overall draft pick. The job really begins now.

“My interactions with him are great in the meetings,” Bricillo said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked up until this point.”

It looked like Neal was making progress during OTAs, but then the Giants scaled back his workload.

Head coach Brian Daboll and Schoen have declined to call it a “setback.”

“In the spring … they decided to back off of me because I was having more days where I wasn’t feeling well than days when it was feeling good,” Neal said. “I’ve been feeling, as of lately, just consistent enough to be able to go back out there and contribute to the team. That’s where I’m at.”

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