Big Blue Bombshell: Why These Stars Were Cut from the Giants 2026 Roster
Head coach John Harbaugh isn't messing around anymore. The New York Football Giants worked very diligently to make sure that they made the right moves for their 53-man roster for the 2026 season. Big Blue had to cut two players who had been with the team since the beginning of the Brian Daboll era. Both Evan Neal and Isaiah Hodgins were cut from the team. It was long overdue, but it was time for them to move on. Both had issues, and their hearts weren’t in it to keep playing on the team.
Neal had struggled for a long time with this team. He was one of the Giants' first picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. They thought he'd be fantastic, but he ultimately fell to the bottom of the Giants’ roster. This offensive tackle was always injured and couldn’t play very much. However, when the Giants offensive lineman did play, he completely tanked as the team's tackle. They had tried with him on several occasions. The former first-rounder also didn’t get along very well with the fanbase. The worst part was when the team decided to move him from left tackle to right tackle. Unfortunately, that didn't work for Big Blue because, no matter what, openings still opened up wherever the Alabama product went.
Neal didn't play a single snap last season, which also dented his future in New York. General manager Joe Schoen gave him a chance in free agency by giving him a small contract so that he could return to New York. Schoen's goal was to give the veteran lineman a prove-it year and let him play under the team's new head coach, John Harabaugh. However, the former Crimson Tide tackle pick fell under the third string on the veteran head coach's offensive line. The Giants head coach ultimately decided to let him go during Sunday's meetings as he built the 53-man roster.
Neal wasn’t the only one with a bad record for the Giants; Hodgins was the other issue on the Giants' offense. Over the last several years, this wide receiver struggled to make plays for the team. Oftentimes, the ball would come his way, and it would slip away from him, or the Oregon State standout would end up missing the ball. This cut hits fans a little harder because he was a familiar face in the locker room; however, he was pushed back more and more in the last few years because he struggled to make plays. The experienced head coach didn't like what he saw. Despite his record of 66 catches for 708 yards and eight touchdowns over the course of the last three and a half years.
They gave the young wide receiver a prove-it year. However, the former sixth-round pick didn't follow through on anything, despite how hard he tried to work for it. Hodgins also landed on the third-string roster and had a chance to play in the Giants’ preseason game against the Jets. The 27-year-old wideout couldn’t make it happen in New York, even during that game. Ultimately, the Giants let him go because they couldn’t keep him on a team that was going in a different direction.
The Giants have a lot to look forward to this coming season. They have a pretty heavy 53-man roster that their Super Bowl-winning head coach has shaped for the 2026 season. The new Giants head coach has a plan in place, and he is sticking to it. Losing both will definitely let New York move forward and try to be a fantastic team again. Big Blue definitely has a strong season ahead.
