Evan Neal - Pro Football Rumors

Trade Down, OL Still In Play For Jaguars At No. 1?

April 28th, 2022 at 12:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

Hours away from the start of this year’s draft, pundits and fans alike find themselves surrounded by uncertainty at even the very top of the board. Many expect the decision facing Jacksonville at No. 1 to come down to their preference between Travon Walker and Aidan Hutchinson, but other options may still be in play.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports that “the Jaguars are still hoping that they can find a path out of the top pick”. It has been known for a while that a number of teams set to pick in the top 10 – including the Jaguars – have been willing to move down, given the lack of surefire talent in this class. As Florio adds, however, they “continue to find no takers”.

Last week, it was reported that no one was calling Jacksonville regarding the top selection. This late in the game, the same appears to be true; most talk of movement within the top handful of teams relates to clubs wanting to add picks later on in the draft, rather than targeting specific prospects. Still, if the Jaguars remain split on their preference at No. 1, they would likely be amenable to any last-minute deal.

Meanwhile, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated adds that offensive line might be on the table for the team to consider when they are on the clock. He is “still not ruling out” a linemen (presumably Ikem Ekwonu or Evan Neal) being the team’s eventual choice. Jacksonville has been linked to the former during the run-up to the draft, but the multi-year extension just given to left tackle Cam Robinson further points towards Walker or Hutchinson.

Seven hours from now, the team’s ultimate decision will be known. Until then, speculation is likely to continue regarding the start of a highly intriguing draft year.

Draft Rumors: Jets, Neal, Giants, Seahawks, Texans, Cowboys

April 27th, 2022 at 8:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Jets were reported to have gone through a productive visit with Kayvon Thibodeaux, it is looking like they will not draft the Oregon-developed pass rusher if he is on the board at No. 4. Questions about Thibodeaux’s fit with the rebuilding team’s culture has led most to expect GM Joe Douglas to pass, Brian Costello of the New York Post notes. Thibodeaux may be this draft’s most frequently discussed player, given his talent coupled with the attitude and effort concerns that dinged him during the draft lead-up. The Jets have recently been linked to Florida State edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, a player they are believed to prefer to Thibodeaux despite the latter being graded higher by most experts. Johnson has generated buzz about becoming a top-10 pick, which would put the Jets to a decision at No. 4. The Georgia transfer might not be available when the Jets pick again (assuming they do not trade for a wide receiver) at No. 10.

On draft eve, here is the latest heading into the 2022 event:

Another player on the top-five radar, Evan Neal is not believed to have been given a clean bill of health by every team. Hip and knee issues have given some teams pause, Albert Breer of SI.com notes. This could see the Alabama product, depending on where teams in the top 10 stand here, fall behind fellow high-end tackle prospects like Ikem Ekwonu and Charles Cross. Neal’s camp has pushed back on this, and Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio adds the top-tier prospect was not asked to return to Indianapolis for the Combine’s medical recheck. Neal did not miss a game last season.
Jerry Jones said recently he is willing to trade up from No. 24. How far up? The Cowboys might be prepared to part with notable draft capital, with NFL.com’s Jane Slater indicating Cross, Northern Iowa tackle Trevor Penning and USC wide receiver Drake London are names to watch regarding a Dallas move up. Cross and London have been mentioned often as top-10 picks, while Penning has his share of fans as well. Based on the targets listed here, the Cowboys would likely need to make a strong offer. It would be quite costly for the Cowboys to move into or near the top 10, but they have been eyeing O-linemen. Dallas holds one pick in each of the second and third rounds.
On the subject of moves, which are mentioned often in the days ahead of a draft, teams have contacted the Giants about the No. 7 overall pick, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. The Seahawks are one of them, having shown interest in moving from 9 to 7. Seattle has often traded down in Round 1 under John Schneider, though the team has not enjoyed top-10 real estate since Schneider and Pete Carroll‘s first draft together (2010). Possessing needs at several spots, the Giants have been connected to using their No. 5 pick and trading down from 7.
Texans GM Nick Caserio said Wednesday a 99% chance exists his team will stay at No. 3 and make a pick, but the team is more open to a move at 13 — the pick obtained via the Deshaun Watson trade. The second-year GM has spoken with at least six teams about the No. 13 choice, per NFL.com’s Jim Trotter (Twitter link). Many teams view first-round trades as likelier to occur after the top 10, Fowler adds.

Texans Eyeing OT, CB At No. 3?

April 26th, 2022 at 10:02am CST by Adam La Rose

While there is still plenty of debate regarding who will hear their name called first in this week’s draft, the Texans represent an interesting focal point with the third overall pick. Two of the top edge rushers are likely to be gone by the time they make that selection, but they will have a number of options, including at offensive tackle and cornerback.

While general manager Nick Caserio has expressed a willingness to trade down from that slot, it is expected no team will move up into the top-five this year. That will leave them, in all likelihood, with the decision between Evan Neal and Ikem Ekwonu if they elect to pick their highest-rated offensive linemen. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reports that the team has been “connected to Neal dating back to the end of the college football season”, leading in part to the plethora of mock drafts linking the two.

On the other hand, the class’ top corners remain in consideration. It was reported last week that Ahmad Gardner could end up being the team’s preferred selection. Given their stated desire to invest more in the position, that wouldn’t come as much of a surprise. What could raise some eyebrows is the team’s apparent preference of Derek Stingley Jr. over Gardner as the top corner. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reports (on Twitter) that the Texans have done a significant amount of homework on the LSU alum; likewise, ESPN’s Todd McShay adds that Stingley is believed to be higher on Houston’s board than Gardner.

An edge rusher such as Kayvon Thibodeaux cannot be completely ruled out at No. 3, but a tackle or corner seems to be the more likely scenario at this point. In a year dominated by uncertainty, though, which prospect at those positions Houston will lean towards will remain to be seen until Thursday night.

Draft Rumors: Stingley, Jaguars, Alabama, Cine, Burks

April 22nd, 2022 at 10:15pm CST by Ely Allen

According to Matt Miller of ESPN, Derek Stingley, Jr. is the hottest name in the 2022 NFL Draft right now. The LSU cornerback has long been considered one of the top-two cornerback prospects available, along with Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad Gardner. Miller claims that Stingley is trending as high as the top-three with the Lions or Texans rumored to be interested in him at No. 2 or 3 overall.

After a stellar freshman season, Stingley was easily viewed as the best cornerback that would be available by the 2022 Draft. But, after a subpar 2020 season and only appearing in three games last year, combined with another stellar season from Gardner, NFL teams have allowed a bit of room for Gardner to challenge as the best corner on the board. The NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Gardner ranked as the third-best prospect overall with Stingley at 15th, while Dane Brugler of The Athletic has Gardner at fifth overall with Stingley at 14th. Miller, though, seems to think Stingley won’t make it past the Seahawks at 9th overall on Thursday night.

Here are a few more notes for the upcoming Draft, starting with some speculation down in Duval:

Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke let it be known on Friday that Jacksonville is considering four players for their number one overall draft pick this Thursday, according to Charean Williams of NBC Sports. Many mock drafts have them going with Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson or Georgia defensive lineman Travon Walker, but they’ve also had their name attached to Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal and NC State offensive lineman Ikem Ekwonu. It’s hard to imagine any other names entering the conversation for Jacksonville’s top pick.
On their postseason run last year, college football powerhouse Alabama lost two of their top pass catchers in two of the biggest games of their season. John Metchie tore his ACL in the team’s SEC Championship victory over Georgia on December 4th. A little over a month later, Jameson Williams tore his ACL in the team’s National Championship game loss to Georgia on January 10th. According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, the two are progressing impressively in their recoveries, with that opinion being echoed by the NFL teams who have looked into their medical information. They may both be on track to play in the upcoming season, depending on how conservative of a team they end up with. The important thing, though, is that, while their stock may have been affected a bit by injury, they are both fully expected to hear their names called next week.
Georgie safety Lewis Cine visited with the Buccaneers this week, according to Jenna Laine of ESPN. Cine led the Bulldogs in tackles and passes broken up for the season last year en route to being named the defensive MVP of the team’s National Championship victory over Alabama. According to Laine, when asked if signing Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal precluded them from drafting a safety, Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht simply replied, “No.”
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks added two more teams to his list of visits earlier this week. Burks met with the Bears and Cardinals as he continues to trend in the first round. Read more about Burks in his NFL Draft Prospect Profile here.

Draft Rumors: Giants, Jets, Eagles, Lions, Seahawks, Cowboys, Browns

April 9th, 2022 at 4:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Giants used a top-five pick on an offensive lineman in 2020, and Andrew Thomas now anchors their line. But the team entered the offseason with needs everywhere else up front. Even after adding multiple likely interior O-line starters in March, Big Blue has a vacancy at right tackle. This has led the Giants to do extensive prep on this draft’s top tackles, including Alabama’s Evan Neal, NC State’s Ikem Ekwonu and Mississippi State’s Charles Cross, SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano notes. Other teams are penciling the Giants in to take a tackle at No. 5 or No. 7, a rival exec said, via Vacchiano. The Giants brought sizable contingents to the three top tackles’ pro days and have been previously linked to Cross, who rates behind Neal and Ekwonu.

With two picks in the top seven, it would surprise if one of the top three tackles remained on the board after the Giants’ second pick — assuming it is not traded. The Panthers, who hold the No. 6 pick, have eyed Ekwonu and Cross as well. That could put the Giants to the test with the first of their Round 1 choices, with other teams in front of them — namely the Texans and Jets — strong candidates to draft tackles as well. The Giants could exit the first round with a right tackle to join offseason additions Mark Glowinski and Jon Feliciano as part of their latest up-front overhaul.

Here is the latest from the draft realm:

Another candidate to join the Giants, Ahmad Gardner will pay them a visit and meet with several other teams ahead of the draft. The Cincinnati standout has emerged as the favorite to be the first cornerback taken, and ProFootballNetwork.com’s Aaron Wilson notes the Jets, Eagles, Lions and Seahawks join the Giants in scheduling “30” visits. The Giants and Jets are believed to have strong interest in Gardner, who seems unlikely to make it out of the top 10. The Jets hold the Nos. 4 and 10 picks.
The Cowboys brought in a few first-round prospects this week. Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd and Texas A&M guard Kenyon Green visited the Cowboys this week, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (all Twitter links). Lloyd and Davis rate as top-12 prospects, per NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah. Barring freefalls or Dallas trading up from No. 24, they will be out of range. Green is viewed by Jeremiah and ESPN.com as the top guard available, being slotted just outside the top 25 by each. The Cowboys, who lost Connor Williams in free agency, are targeting O-linemen early.
One of this draft’s top wide receivers, Treylon Burks has met with a few teams already. In addition to Cowboys and Buccaneers summits, the Arkansas product spent time with the Browns and Jets this week, Wilson tweets. The Texans are up next. The Browns are an unrealistic Burks suitor, having traded their first-round pick (No. 13) to the Texans, who would loom as a potential destination thanks to one of the choices they acquired in the Deshaun Watson deal. The Jets have made their wide receiver interest fairly well known this offseason.
Although they do not have a first-round pick until 2025, the Browns still hold their second-rounder (No. 44) this year. In addition to their Friday Burks meeting, the Browns brought in North Dakota State wide receiver Christian Watson, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. ESPN and Jeremiah slot the Division I-FCS product 45th. The 6-foot-4 pass catcher played with Trey Lance as a sophomore in 2019 and earned All-American acclaim in 2021.

Jaguars Looking At OL Ekwonu With Top Pick

March 6th, 2022 at 4:13pm CST by Ely Allen

We wrote a bit in January about NC State’s Ikem Ekwonu potentially being the best offensive lineman in the draft. Well, he certainly thinks so, as he told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine Thursday that he’d “definitely deserve” to be drafted No. 1 overall, according to Darryl Slater of NJ.com.

He’s not totally off base in his thinking. ESPN’s Mel Kiper mocked Ekwonu to Jacksonville in his latest mock draft just before the Combine. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, many at the Combine, including ESPN’s Todd McShay, expected Ekwonu to blow up in Indianapolis.

There’s already been a bit of talk connecting Ekwonu to the Jaguars. General manager Trent Baalke has a tendency to prefer explosive linemen and Ekwonu demonstrated his explosiveness in field drills including an impressive sub-5.00 second 40-yard dash. Baalke and new head coach Doug Pederson will be looking to put together a group at offensive line that can protect former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence and create holes for running backs James Robinson and Travis Etienne.

Jawaan Taylor is expected to compete with Walker Little for the right tackle job. Captain Brandon Linder should return to form at center after MCL and ankle injuries forced him to miss a large part of the 2021 NFL season. Andrew Norwell is expected to hit the free agent market and Cam Robinson could join him if the team decides not to utilize their franchise tag on Robinson for the second straight year. Veteran sixth-man Tyler Shatley was recently re-signed and Ben Bartch could help out at guard. So the versatility of Ekwonu could line him up as the perfect choice for Jacksonville’s current situation, where lots of question marks surround the depth chart. Even so, the Jaguars could also fall in love with Evan Neal, who is largely seen as the top pure tackle in the draft.

Still, the redshirt sophomore out of Raleigh is a young, talented prospect with the ability to dominate at tackle or guard. Even if he slips past Jacksonville at No. 1 overall, don’t expect him to be available after both New York teams get a chance to draft. Ekwonu will aim to be only the third Wolfpack offensive lineman in history to be picked in the first round, the highest-drafted Wolfpack prospect since Bradley Chubb in 2018, and, above that, the first top overall pick out of NC State since Mario Williams in 2006.

Evan Neal, Derek Stingley Jr., Matt Corral Won’t Work Out At Combine

February 28th, 2022 at 3:21pm CST by Adam La Rose

After a threatened boycott of the NFL Combine was avoided, teams and prospects are indeed headed to Indianapolis for the annual event. Some of the class’ biggest names will not be conducting workouts there, however. Included amongst those are Alabama tackle Evan Neal, LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported (in a pair of tweets) the news about Neal and Stingley. The former, who is in contention to be picked first overall by the Jaguars, will participate in team interviews, he adds. The six-foot-seven, 350-pounder is generally seen as the top o-linemen in the class, and earned a PFF grade of 85.8 in 2021 en route to being named a consensus First-Team All American. He could slot in at either tackle spot, giving him plenty of value to other teams if Jacksonville passes on him.

Stingley, meanwhile, entered the draft cycle as the top cornerback when he declared in January. While there are some boards and mock drafts in which Cincinnati’s Ahmad Gardner has since eclipsed him for that position, the junior is still very highly touted. A starter in his freshman season, he helped the Tigers win the national title in 2019, notching six interceptions. Due to injuries (including a Lisfranc injury he had surgery on), however, he has only played 10 games since then. Still, at six-foot-one and 195 pounds, he has the size and pedigree to help any number of teams picking in the top ten.

Lastly, Rapoport’s colleague Tom Pelissero tweets that Corral is still recovering from the high ankle sprain he suffered in the Sugar Bowl. He likely would have been a full participant if not for the injury, but he is nevertheless ahead of the original six-to-eight week recovery schedule. The redshirt junior finished in the top ten in Heisman voting, scoring 31 total touchdowns and leading the Rebels to a 10-3 season. He is among a handful of QB prospects at or near the top of the board in what is considered a weak year at the position.

All three players will wait until their Pro Days (March 30th, April 6th and March 23rd, respectively) to conduct on-field workouts.

Release Candidate: Ravens OT Alejandro Villanueva

February 27th, 2022 at 10:12pm CST by Ely Allen

In the week before the 2021 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens gave in to the wishes of Pro Bowl offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and traded him away to the Chiefs. This trade left a hole on the Ravens’ offensive line opposite All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley. To address this issue, the Ravens signed Alejandro Villanueva, a free agent whom the Steelers felt ready to move on from.

After not falling in love with any of the tackles the Draft had to offer at their position in the early rounds, Baltimore opted for a stopgap solution, signing Villanueva to a two-year deal worth $14MM. Villanueva had performed admirably over his sevens years in Pittsburgh, but was never really considered an elite tackle. His best years saw him make consecutive Pro Bowls in the 2017 and 2018 NFL seasons.

As a Raven, Villanueva did his job, and then was asked to do more. After four years of starting at left tackle as a Steeler, Villanueva struggled initially when asked to fill in at right tackle. He got to go back to his more natural position after ankle surgery sidelined Stanley for the all but one game of the 2021 season.

Villanueva had an up and down year. Often Villanueva’s age showed during some rough outings, but the 33-year-old showed some resiliency, playing through some discomfort knowing that another absence for the injury-devastated Ravens could spell disaster. He seemed to find his footing with time, though, playing a pretty good stretch of football to end the season.

But was Villanueva’s performance in 2021 worthy of a $9.25MM cap hit in 2022? Likely not. The Ravens will hope for a strong return for Stanley and they signed Ja’Wuan James to a low $9MM, two-year contract knowing that he likely would be out with a torn Achilles tendon for much of the 2021 season. The likeliest scenario sees Baltimore cutting Villanueva loose to rely on a combination of Stanley and James to bookend the offensive line. The Ravens also recently signed utility offensive lineman Patrick Mekari to a three-year extension. The former undrafted free agent has started at all three offensive line positions for Baltimore and could continue to fill in at right tackle until the next franchise tackle shows up.

Baltimore could also opt to address the position in the 2022 NFL Draft. While, with the 14th overall pick, the Ravens are not in a position to take one of the Draft’s more exciting tackle prospects like NC State’s Ikem Ekwonu or Alabama’s Evan Neal, if Mississippi State’s Charles Cross were to fall to Baltimore, the Ravens, who are known for drafting for value over fit, would likely find it hard to pass on Cross’s potential. Cross, who ranks as the 8th best Draft prospect on The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s Top 100, impresses many evaluators, but, reportedly, hasn’t convinced the entire league that he’s a top ten draft pick. If the Ravens were to trade back later into the first round, another common move by the draft-savvy franchise, they could find smaller school prospects like Northern Iowa’s Trevor Penning or Central Michigan’s Bernhard Raimann falling into their laps. They could even wait until their second-round or third-round selections come up and opt to take a flyer on Minnesota’s massive Daniel Faalele or Ohio State’s Nicholas Petit-Frere, respectively.

Regardless, most paths that make sense for Baltimore don’t entail the team stomaching a $9.25MM cap hit for a tackle that struggled much of the year for them. Turning 34 at the beginning of the 2022 season, Villanueva could save the Ravens the trouble and simply retire. Whether retired or released, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we don’t see Villanueva in purple and black next season.