Jermaine Eluemunor Previews Evan Neal's Position Change

The New York Giants signed Jermaine Eluemunor to replace right tackle Evan Neal in 2024. He did so successfully, but in the process, he became a leader in the Giants locker room. Further, he became a mentor to Neal.

Now, Neal is embarking on a new journey. Pushed out of a starting job, Neal is hoping to save his career by moving to guard.

Finally healthy, New York has granted him that opportunity in the offseason. While he isn’t necessarily challenging for a starting spot any time soon, his transition seems to be going well.

On Wednesday, Eluemunor previewed Neal’s position change.

“I think that he's truly bought into it, and it's been cool for me to just watch the tape and just, he's a humongous dude,” Eluemunor told reporters. “… Obviously him going from tackle to guard is a big transition. And I've done it myself a couple times in my career, so to see him buying into it and to see how serious he's taking it is really cool to see.

“And I think that he can be a really good player. I was telling him, I was like, if you lock in and you truly buy into this, you can be a really good guard just from seeing how he's done in the spring. I'm excited to see him in the summer and putting pads on.”

The writing has been on the wall for the second first-round pick of the Giants’ 2022 NFL Draft. But inside, there’s reason to believe he could find more success. Rather than facing off against uber-athletic edge rushers and having to operate in space, Neal can rely more on his anchor to win between the tackles.

Even so, the speed of the game is a bit different at guard. Perhaps that will allow Neal’s aggressiveness to shine. That timing, Eluemunor says, will be paramount.

“I'd say the speed,” Eluemunor said. “Everything at guard is bang, bang. At tackle, it's more patience and you have to be willing – you have to know when to strike at tackle essentially. At guard, those big guys like Dexter (Lawrence) they are on you within a millisecond and you got to be able to figure out what you need to do and how you can defeat them when you are blocking and ultimately win the block within a matter of seconds because if not, then they're going to be on the quarterback.”

Neal has been much better in the run game than pass protection as a pro, and kicking inside should emphasize that strength. If he can win with the same skills that made him a top-10 pick, there’s room for him to make up ground on a rookie contract that’s underwater.

He already has Eluemunor’s seal of approval.

“The sky is the limit for him, he's a talented kid and I think that he can be a really good player.”