Is this true or BS?
Sources confirmed to Vikings Wire late Wednesday that the team has agreed to terms on a deal with the New York Giants to acquire former No. 7 overall pick Evan Neal in exchange for a conditional seventh-round selection in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The blockbuster acquisition comes at a make-or-break moment for Minnesota, who enter their Week 5 bye on the ropes after a gut-wrenching 24-21 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers in London. That overseas heartbreaker wasn’t just a loss on the scoreboard; it was a demolition of the Vikings’ front five, with two key starters—center Ryan Kelly and right tackle Brian O’Neill—carted off with injuries that exposed the unit’s fragility like never before.
With backups shuffling in and out like a bad game of musical chairs, Minnesota’s “makeshift” O-line featured three non-starters against Pittsburgh, allowing three sacks and countless pressures on quarterback Sam Darnold. The result? A stalled run game, a harried passing attack, and a fanbase that’s seen enough patchwork to last a lifetime.
Enter Evan Neal: the 6-foot-7, 337-pound Alabama product who was once hailed as the future of the Giants’ trenches. Drafted seventh overall in 2022 amid sky-high expectations, Neal’s NFL journey has been a rollercoaster of positional tweaks and unfulfilled promise. Moved from tackle to guard in a bid for playing time, he’s logged 27 starts across both spots but has been relegated to the bench in 2025 behind Jon Runyan Jr. and Greg Van Roten. Zero snaps this season for the Giants, who are 1-3 and shopping assets ahead of their own reset.
But here’s the twist that makes this trade a potential masterstroke: Neal’s versatility. He’s got 1,200-plus snaps at tackle in college and the pros, making him a seamless plug-and-play replacement for O’Neill. And for a Vikings team coached by the offensive wizard Kevin O’Connell—who’s turned castoffs like Aaron Jones and T.J. Hockenson into Pro Bowl caliber—this smells like destiny.
“Kevin’s got a knack for unlocking talent that others couldn’t,” Adofo-Mensah added. “We’ve seen it with our skill players, and now we’re extending that to the line. Evan fits our culture, our scheme, and our timeline perfectly.”
O’Connell’s Reclamation Magic: Neal’s Perfect Landing Spot
Neal’s slide isn’t for lack of physical gifts. At 25, he’s still young enough to rebound, with the athleticism that made him a top-10 lock three drafts ago. Scouts rave about his footwork, punch, and run-blocking prowess—traits that could thrive in O’Connell’s zone-heavy, play-action attack. Imagine Neal pulling on sweeps or stonewalling edge rushers like Myles Garrett in the coming weeks; it’s the kind of vision that has Minnesota’s brass salivating.
For the Giants, it’s a salary cap dump and draft capital haul. Neal’s rookie deal carries a $4.8 million cap hit in 2025, and with New York eyeing a rebuild, moving him for a late-rounder (that could upgrade to a sixth based on snaps) is low-risk housekeeping. Giants GM Joe Schoen confirmed the deal in a terse team statement: “Evan’s a tremendous talent, and we’re excited for his next chapter. This gives us flexibility moving forward.”
haven't seen this yet
I haven't really seen us revitalize any OL's careers. QB's, RB's, maybe even CB's, but not OL's.
If he can't get on the filed for the Giants, not sure how he is going to be an upgrade to what we have, now if he could play center that would be a different story as that is the biggest need right now.
I never heard of trading a 7th round pick being called a "blockbuster." I have no idea of this is true or b.s. Also O'Connell's "reclamation magic" is seriously overhyped and certainly doesn't apply to olinemen. Our oline appears to have lousy coaching as we see a guy like Ed Ingram who completely sucked here for a long time go to Houston and have one of the highest PFF grades in the league all of a sudden.
I, too, was horrified to see the abuse “Sam Darnold” took from Pittsburgh last week ?
StickierBuns wrote:
There's AI bots out there Tom that just post made up shit on purpose for engagement. When you see especially flowery language like 'blockbuster' on a trade that clearly isn't, that's a clue.
With Sam Darnold at QB and 'castoffs' like Hockenson and Jones.
StickierBuns wrote:
100%. Its a complete cesspool of crap.
AI is heralded as some sort of great advancement, I think its just as likely to take our civilization to new lows. we already cant trust the media, but with the addition of AI, what exactly can we trust?
Why isn't Chuck Foreman in the Hall of Fame?
JimmyinSD wrote:
AI is heralded as some sort of great advancement, I think its just as likely to take our civilization to new lows. we already cant trust the media, but with the addition of AI, what exactly can we trust?
StickierBuns wrote:
This ^
It could definitely break either way. I'm not worried about journalism per se. It's already screwed, but the endless possibilities in helping medical outcomes and simplifying very complex things could definitely be offset by disinformation or information used for evil reasons. I'm reading books on how it could potentially be used in war to create diversions so complex as to be indistinguishable from real attacks. That's scary..
Waterboy wrote:
It could definitely break either way. I'm not worried about journalism per se. It's already screwed, but the endless possibilities in helping medical outcomes and simplifying very complex things could definitely be offset by disinformation or information used for evil reasons. I'm reading books on how it could potentially be used in war to create diversions so complex as to be indistinguishable from real attacks. That's scary..
I think for every positive.... there will be countless negatives, doesn't mean we shouldn't be working to advance it, but I would like to see some real consequences for those that choose to use it with ill intent, especially for crimes against our elderly and children. I would have zero qualms with the death penalty in those cases.
Why isn't Chuck Foreman in the Hall of Fame?
I think AI looks like something being forced upon the people more than something evolving organically. CEO's using it as an excuse to fire employees. Mediocre performance, but a promising future. Hey, you the people are causing the earth to collapse, but we also need to build a ton of new power plants and take all the water to power a billion new data centers, while we still haven't really explained what's going to happen after it takes everyone's jobs.
I think it's really just going to destroy any desire to work and create value. Like you are an expert at something, and than the owners of AI steal your expertise as their own and you don't get paid. They're really depending on AI being able to become actually intelligent, because they won't be able to copy stuff if no one produces anything.
medaille wrote:
I think AI looks like something being forced upon the people more than something evolving organically. CEO's using it as an excuse to fire employees. Mediocre performance, but a promising future. Hey, you the people are causing the earth to collapse, but we also need to build a ton of new power plants and take all the water to power a billion new data centers, while we still haven't really explained what's going to happen after it takes everyone's jobs.I think it's really just going to destroy any desire to work and create value. Like you are an expert at something, and than the owners of AI steal your expertise as their own and you don't get paid. They're really depending on AI being able to become actually intelligent, because they won't be able to copy stuff if no one produces anything.
Gotta love those data centers, a new way to tax the locals to benefit the rich. They like to build them near green energy stations, must be an incentive, but as we know wind and solar are unreliable sources so then the local utilities have to build massive amounts of standby generation capabilities and to do so they must raise rates for all their customers. Our country's head long rush into ai and data centers is only going to make our struggling electrical infrastructure even more frail and a strategic liability.
This country needs to re think its entire grid and power system, get away from building transmission lines from areas of cheap land, and instead build gas pipelines from areas of NGas to fuel NGas power plants around the country closer to where the electricity is needed. Also expansion of nuclear and additional use of other types of gas and further development of emerging sources.
All the bullshit about capturing c02 for sequestration, maybe turn that into methanol to power generators anywhere that they are making ethanol from countless sources.
We have a lot of smart people that have great ideas, we just need to get those billionaires protecting their profits and govt kickbacks out of the way first.
I wonder if we are blowing our wad on gen 1 concepts, and then won't be able to afford to stay in the tech race as AI develops it has to be able to design itself more efficient centers and power use.
Why isn't Chuck Foreman in the Hall of Fame?
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