Giants Place OT Evan Neal, CB Aaron Robinson on PUP List

The New York Giants have placed right tackle Evan Neal (ankle) and cornerback Aaron Robinson (knee) on the active/physically unable to perform list. Both players were unable to pass the team’s physical administered on Tuesday, veteran reporting day, and will be unable to practice until they can pass a physical.

NEal’s landing on PUP eight months after season-ending ankle surgery is disappointing but not surprising. He had been limited during the spring right up until the final OTAs when he was completely shut down from doing any activity. At the time, head coach Brian Daboll said that Neal, the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft, hadn’t suffered a setback and that they backed off him to ensure he’d be ready for training camp.

However, watching NEal told a different story as when he would come out to do rehab on the side, he moved gingerly and with a noticeable limp, suggesting that his surgically repaired foot still wasn’t right.

The Giants were hoping that NEal, who is entering his third NFL campaign, would finally take a leap forward in his development this year. The longer he remains on PUP–he can come off it at any time during the summer–the more time he’s going to miss in terms of any cross training he might have otherwise received at guard as well as at tackle.

The expectation is that Jermaine Eluemunor, who had been penciled in at left guard, will move to right tackle. The Giants may open camp with either Joshua Ezeudu or Aaron Stinnie at left guard, but they were also reportedly interested in signing veteran guard Greg Van Roten, who had been with offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo last year in Las Vegas.

This marks the second summer in a  row that Robinson will start camp on the PUP list. A third-round pick by the team in 2021, Robinson tore ligaments in his knee in 2022 and has not played since, spending all of last season on the PUP list.   

In other news, defensive backs Jalen Mills and Stantley Thomas-Oliver have both been placed on the “Declared Non-Football Injury” list, which means they each suffered an injury not related to a organized team football activity.