It’s always a great feeling when your favorite NFL team makes an excellent free agent signing or drafts an incredible young player, ensuring a strong standard of play on the field for years to come. It’s an even better feeling when that player comes in the later rounds of the draft, the team managing to find a hidden gem and develop them to their full potential. That’s what’s happening right now with the New York Giants and linebacker Darrian Beavers. Beavers missed the entirety of his rookie campaign after tearing his ACL in the Giants’ second preseason game, but he’s back and better than ever according to early reports from New York’s offseason training exercises.
The Giants posted a hype video of Beavers earlier this week where team play-by-play announcer Bob Papa broke down his film, as did Shaun O’Hara, the starting center for the Giants’ Super Bowl XLII championship team. Few would know more about the talent of a linebacker than those forced to tee off against them in the trenches on play after play, so take it from the man himself if you want to get a preview of what Beavers could bring to the team in his first regular season action this coming season.
Here’s a look at what Beavers has done with his career so far, and what could come next for the promising young player.
Beavers was born and raised in the Cincinnati area, attending Colerain High School just outside of the city limits. He’s also a favorite for the Sportsbooks in Ohio, where his Giants are listed around the middle of the pack with +5100 odds of winning their fifth Super Bowl championship this season, behind the Eagles and Cowboys for the third-best odds in the NFC East at BetMGM Sportsbook.
Beavers has been the center of attention during the season since the Giants managed to make their way back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
The Giants will get a massive boost this year as, along with Beavers, half of their rookie class from 2022 suffered season ending knee ligament injuries on the tough turf of MetLife Stadium.
A sixth round pick in the 2022 draft, Beavers chose to attend the University of Connecticut out of high school, but transferred back home to the Cincinnati Bearcats following the conclusion of the 2018 season. A true hometown hero, Beavers helped lead the Bearcats to the first College Football Playoff appearance of any Group of Five team ever in 2021, and he was a finalist for the Dick Butkus Award as the top collegiate linebacker in the nation, racking up 102 tackles in 14 games.
Beavers is a physical specimen who stands nearly 6-foot-4 and weighs 255 pounds. He ran the 40 yard dash in 4.67 seconds, which is solid for a player of his size, but still not as fast as you might like to see. He’s pretty big for an inside linebacker (and has bulked up by nearly 20 pounds since the Giants picked him up, which makes one wonder if a position switch is in order), and his experience on special teams gives him an extra weapon that will help secure him a place on the Giants’ roster.
Beavers projects as a two down linebacker, as his ability to rack up tackles and occasionally rush the passer are adequate, but he isn’t fast enough to match up with receivers over the middle in passing situations. What he lacks in agility he makes up for with power, though, which is what makes one wonder if he could be better suited by bulking up and moving to play on the defensive line.
