The New York Giants are in the unenviable position of replacing left tackle Andrew Thomas, who is now out for the remainder of the 2024 season with a foot injury.
The plan, according to head coach Brian Daboll, is to insert third-year lineman Joshua Ezeudu into the role and see how he does in practice this week.
If Ezeudu works out, the problem will be solved (for now). But if he doesn’t, well… a different plan will rolled out.
“Well, you can’t replace an Andrew Thomas,” Daboll told reporters. “We’ve had six weeks here in the regular season where Evan (Neal) has taken, I’d say, the majority of right tackle snaps in case something happened to Jermaine (Eluemunor).
“Ezeudu has taken left tackle snaps. But then, once this happens, you have discussions about how you want to approach it. We’ll do a few things here this week and then ultimately after Friday’s practice, we’ll make our decision on how we’re going to go with that.”
Daboll has said that both Ezeudu and Neal have improved from the players they’ve been in the past. Both have struggled too often than not for the fans’ liking.
Most Giants beat writers were not even mentioning Ezeudu as Plan B here. They figured the Giants would shift Eluemunor over the left side and insert Neal on the right.
That could still happen but Eluemunor has settled in on the right side and would prefer to stay put.
“If I have to, I’ll do it. But I believe in EZ (Ezeudu), and I like playing right tackle. But I think that we have the players here in order to help soften the burden. And Dabs is able to adjust some things to make it easier for certain guys in there and get him going,” he said.
Neal told reporters that he is ready to play either side. After two-plus seasons of inconsistency and injuries, the former 2022 No. 7 overall pick just wants to play.
“I feel like it would be an adjustment, but not a huge one,” Neal said of playing left tackle, his position in college at Alabama. “Since I’ve been in the league, I’ve been playing primarily on the right side. But, left tackle is something that I can do if need be.”
We shall find out come Friday afternoon which plan wins out. One thing is for certain: No outside help is likely to happen until next week at the soonest.
