In the blink of an eye, or in this case, the snap of an ACL, New York Giants inside linebacker Darrian Beavers saw his budding NFL career flash before his eye last summer.
Beavers, the Giants' sixth-round pick out of Cincinnati last year, had been turning heads in his first NFL training camp in a quest to nail down a starting job at inside linebacker. But in the team's second preseason game, a 25-22 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, Beavers took a step that turned out to be the wrong way, his ACL tearing on the old MetLife Stadium turf.
The season-ending injury proved to be a blow at first for Beavers, but in time, he came to grips with it and sought, through rehab, to return better than ever.
"It had its ups and downs," he told reporters after the team wrapped up its fifth training camp practice Monday. "There were downs where I was like, ‘My knee isn't getting better,’ but there were also ups where I was like, ‘Oh, I’m getting really good at this,’ or ‘My knee’s doing really good this week.’"
Beavers soon began to focus on stacking up the good days, and he said that helped him to keep his mind right during the lengthy rehab process. "I’m in a really good head space, and I’m blessed to even be playing football,” he said.
Nearly a year later, Beavers looks to put the past behind him and start fresh. He spoke of working behind the scenes not just on his rehab but on the mental part of the job and the defense and feels he's in a good position to use that in his competition with Micah McFadden, Carter Coughlin, and Troy Brown to win the other inside linebacker job next to veteran Bobby Okereke.
“I think we have a really good linebacker room this year,” Beavers said. “It’s a group effort. It’s not just two people out there; it’s a group effort. We have to come together as a linebacker room and try to be better than we were last year.”
Beavers, who said he dropped about ten pounds during his comeback, is ready to play again and will take the next big step on Tuesday when the Giants put on pads for the first time this summer.
“I’m eager to put the pads on,” Beavers said. It’s gonna be a good testament to myself. I’m trying to be the most confident person out there, but there are some things that I gotta see for myself too.”
Hopefully, he'll like what he sees when he looks at the film.
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