The Las Vegas Raiders are desperate for viable offensive linemen who can help them with their running game and add depth or versatility, but on Monday they announced that they’ve cut former New York Giants lineman Evan Neal from their practice squad, according to a report from Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
Neal’s career has been mostly a mystery so far. The Giants selected Neal seventh overall in the 2022 draft, and players in that slot usually go on to have a long and at least somewhat successful career.
Not Neal, though. He started his career at rigth tackle with the Giants, who moves him to right guard when he struggled there. He ended his Giants career with 27 starts out of 29 games. The Raiders took a flyer on Neal when New York released him on Aug. 30, but he obviously didn’t last long.
There’s no one reason Neal failed in the NFL, but there were a bunch of smaller ones. He struggled to handle edge rushers, had trouble with an ankle injury, and when he lost ground on the Giants depth chart he simply didn’t have the talent, technique or confidence to catch up. It’s a remarkable fail considering that Neal played at Alabama, which is known for turning out quality linemen.
The Raiders also cut tight end Chris Myarick from their practice squad after activating him for two games this season. He played eight snaps on offense and three on special teams, per Wiliams.
Myarick was mostly a “break glass in case of emergency” depth piece with Brock Bowers going in and out of the lineup after knee surgery, but Bowers played a full game and appeared fine against the Buffalo Bills, so now Myarick is gone.
The Raiders made a pair of moves to sub in players for Neal and Myarick, and as usual coack Klint Kubiak turned to his experience with the Seattle Seahawks to find one of the fill-ins.
Amari Kight is one of the offensive tackles who was added, and he played for Kubiak when the coach was the offensive coordinator for the Seahawks. Kight played in four games for the Seahawks last year, but Seattle cut him during the preseason with an undisclosed injury, and now he’s been picked up by the Raiders.
The other player who’s been added was a tackle who’s been more of a journeyman type. Darian Kinnard came into the NFL as a fifth-round pick for the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2022, and he spent last season with the Green Bay Packers last season and appeared in every game, according to Williams, including four starts.