RENTON — When the Seahawks host the New York Giants on Sunday at Lumen Field, they’ll do so with an offensive line anchored by a budding star in third-year left tackle Charles Cross.
“Charles, since his rookie year, man, he stepped right in, and he’s been the day one franchise left tackle for us and you can just see his confidence has grown so much,’’ quarterback Geno Smith said Thursday.
Across the way when the game begins, standing on the opposite sideline, will be Giants’ third-year offensive tackle Evan Neal, who will likely see action only in the event of injury. He hasn’t played a single snap all season despite being healthy and on the active roster.
Had things gone the way the Giants hoped, Neal would enter this game being perceived the same as Cross, viewed as one of the better young offensive tackles in the league, if not already having proven to be a pillar of the team’s foundation.
That was the plan when the Giants took Neal seventh overall in the 2022 draft — two spots before the Seahawks chose Cross.
It’s a circumstance that illustrates anew that for all the undeniable hard work and hours, days, weeks, months and years NFL teams spend scouting players, sometimes a little good fortune might be the most important thing of all.
Neal and Cross were two of what were regarded as three sure-thing offensive tackles heading into the 2022 draft, the other being Ikem Ekwonu.
