Anyone who was been playing fantasy football knows that the real battles are fought in the trenches and a team with a terrible offensive line is often playing with one hand tied behind their back.  A strong protection unit will have positive effects for both the passing and running game and it’s always smart to load up on skill players who get to operate behind a dominant offensive line.  This article highlights the o-lineman who have the most to prove this season and if they can level up, it will have a cascading effect on their team’s entire offense.

• Evan Neal
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The Giants’ offensive line as a whole has a lot to prove this upcoming season, but nobody on that line needs a bigger season than right tackle Evan Neal. The 7th overall pick of the 2022 NFL draft has played just 20 games in his two seasons in the league. Despite being 23 years old, the G-Men can no longer wait for Neal to develop into the star he promised to be coming out of Alabama. Big Blue’s offensive future depends on whether or not Neal can stay healthy and effective this year, as he only played seven games last year and finished 80th out of 81 graded tackles on PFF. For such a high draft pick, the numbers are not encouraging enough to allow for any more missteps. Since the team may move on from quarterback Daniel Jones after 2024, the expectations for Neal are even greater. The front office needs to know their future signal caller has dependable bodyguards around him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the line, left tackle Andrew Thomas has vastly improved since his rookie season in 2020. After allowing 10 sacks that year, he has given up only nine in the last three seasons and improved his overall PFF grade every year by at least 11 points from 2020 to 2022. Last year, injuries set his production back slightly, but he was still good enough to rank 18th out of the 81 tackles. This points to why the Giants’ front office needs Neal to take a similar leap. Neal and Thomas were both top-10 picks in their draft classes, but the latter has fared much better, causing the franchise and fans to turn a glaring eye on the former’s performance. He has to take a giant leap to stay on the roster for the foreseeable future.

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