New Orleans Saints running back Devin Neal (30) is pushed out of bounds by Denver Broncos safety Sam Franklin Jr. (42) in the second half of an NFL preseason football game in New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
Throughout the year, [Devin Neal](https://www.nola.com/tncms/asset/editorial/3518a4b7-6e53-45f8-b552-144063644d89/) will take what he calls a “phone cleanse.”
The New Orleans Saints’ rookie running back gets off social media. He won’t answer his phone unless it’s an emergency, or his parents and coaches are trying to reach him. He’ll avoid the device as much as possible to help clear his mind.
But after the biggest play of his young career, Neal just so happened not to be participating in one of these cleanses. And even if he had been, the near-constant buzz from his device would have likely been too hard to ignore anyway.
“It was a lot of people, man,” Neal said.
The people in his life wanted to talk about The Block. In Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Bears, Neal stood on the right side of quarterback Spencer Rattler when he noticed an unblocked Jaquan Brisker flying in off a blitz. In a split second, Neal turned to lower his body and _boom!_ The 22-year-old collided with the Bears safety to push him off course, allowing Rattler to step into the pocket and avoid the hit.
“He’s one of the smarter guys — rookie-wise, running back-wise — that I’ve been around,” Rattler said. “He’s really intelligent.”
“That’s my responsibility, especially in that protection,” Neal said.
Neal’s responsibilities will now only increase after this past weekend. Beyond Neal showing that he’s a capable blocker, the Saints lost backup running back Kendre Miller to a season-ending ACL injury — putting Neal next in line to see playing time behind Alvin Kamara.
Neal said he’s ready for the moment. Though he wasn’t drafted until the sixth round last April, Neal had a productive college career. He became Kansas’s all-time leading rusher in part because he was the first Jayhawks to rush for more than 1,000 yards in three straight seasons.
The Saints liked Neal for his blocking. But they liked what he can do as a runner, too.
“Great vision, good cut,” Saints coach Kellen Moore said. “He’s got a good balance to him. He just had a good feel for the run game.”
To this point, Neal’s workload had been relatively limited. Any chance that Neal had in pushing for more playing time was derailed in training camp when a hamstring injury sidelined him for two weeks. By the time he returned, Miller had solidified the No. 2 job.
But Neal said even when he was injured, he was still prepared. He sat in meetings and learned the playbook. From a physical standpoint, Neal said he wasn’t too hampered by the injury upon his return. He felt winded in his preseason debut, he said, but then felt “perfectly fine” after that.
From there, Neal was part of a number crunch. He played seven offensive snaps in New Orleans’ opener, but was a healthy scratch over the next four games. He got back in the lineup to play special teams in a Week 6 loss to the New England Patriots and then played again the following week against the Bears.
In Chicago, Neal again played seven offensive snaps. He needed only one to make an impact, however.
On his block of Brisker, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the play was that it came from an unscouted look. The Bears ran that type of Brisker blitz for the first time to try and catch New Orleans off guard, though Neal processed the sequence fast enough to make the adjustment.
“That showed up in the college film from Devin, which was a little bit of an impressive aspect (of his game),” Moore said. “His ability to protect, we felt like that would give him a head start compared to a lot of guys coming from college, where protection necessarily isn’t part of their tools.”
That head start has put Neal in a position in which the Saints are now counting on him. But Neal said he’s more than prepared for his opportunity.
He just might have to turn his phone off first.