Giants General Manager Joe Schoen acknowledged that there were some medical concerns regarding offensive tackle Evan Neal prior to the draft, but Schoen said the Giants’ doctors were confident enough that Neal will stay healthy that Schoen didn’t hesitate to take him with the seventh overall pick in the draft.
“On the medical, a lot of times teams share medical grades, and I think it was 52 percent of the league, there was only 8 percent that had issues with anything with Evan,” Schoen said. “And circling up with that, I think that was a rumor that was out there, but the majority of teams in the league, again, he started 40 career games. He missed one game because of COVID.”
Schoen said the Giants’ doctors were aware of something that other doctors had flagged in Neal’s medical evaluations, but that a thorough check of Neal’s history made the Giants confident in him.
“Our medical staff did a great job,” Schoen said. “They were on it. Before any of that came out, we went through all that and they mentioned what some teams had concerns with, and our doctors looked at it and they were fine with everything. Again, his play history backs that up.”
Schoen said he hopes the Giants’ offensive line, a major priority for him when he took the job three months ago, has been fixed.