Jon Beason’s Season-Ending Injury Not Death Sentence For New York Giants

By Kenneth Teape @teapester725 on October 27, 2014

Bringing Jon Beason back to the New York Giants was a priority this offseason. The middle linebacker they acquired from the Carolina Panthers last season for a late-round draft pick helped turn around the defense after a slow 0-6 start, finishing the season 7-9. He will not be a part of a potential turnaround this season, as Beason has elected to have season-ending surgery to repair the foot that has been bothering him since June. Losing another starter on an already depleted defense is never a positive, but this isn’t a death sentence for the Giants or their defense.

Thus far this season the Giants have not been overly effective with Beason on the field. As the middle linebacker, you are essentially the quarterback of the defense. An offense doesn’t click if the quarterback is out of sync, and the same goes for the linebacker on defense. Beason has missed plenty of practice time this year because of the foot injury, and it impacted the team as they have lost every game he has been active for but won the three that he missed.

That isn’t a shot at Beason, as over the long run having him available is better than having him sidelined. It’s more of an indictment of the other players that they are incapable of picking up the slack in Beason’s absence.

In his place, Jameel McClain should take over at middle linebacker, vacating his strong side spot. In his place at strong side, Devon Kennard and Mark Herzlich will take over. Kennard showed out in preseason, and now that he is recovered from a hamstring injury, he has a chance to do it again when the games count. Jacquian Williams will continue to patrol the weak side as he has done all season.

That quartet has been the main contributors in the Giants’ three victories this season over the Houston Texans, Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons. They are the players who have been on the field throughout training camp and have the chemistry together that is needed to succeed defensively.

Not only do the Giants have to replace Beason, but they will have to replace Cullen Jenkins at defensive tackle as well. The linebackers will have to step up and lead this defense. They have shown they could do it once before this season and will have an opportunity to do it again after the bye in primetime on Monday Night Football against a wounded Indianapolis Colts team. That is a start of a daunting stretch for the Giants, and having their linebackers back in sync and playing strong football will go a long way in turning around this season.

Kenneth Teape is a New York Giants writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @teapester725 or join his Google network