There’s not that many players that have as much bad luck as New York Giants cornerback Sam Beal, who should be in his second year as a regular player in the team’s defensive back rotation but in reality has yet to play a single game in the NFL. Beal was taken out of commission in training camp and didn’t appear in either the preseason or regular season last year – and despite his best efforts to come back, the same thing might happen again this season.
Beal is one of the players who didn’t participate in the final training camp practice of the year, and it doesn’t look like he’ll play in the preseason finale against the New England Patriots either, based on that fact. With Beal missing a lot of time in training camp and not playing in the preseason conclusion, the injured reserve list seems like a likely option.
But going on the IR list, of course, has consequences. Teams can only bring back two players from IR per season, but players have to remain on the list for at least eight weeks which means that, even in Beal comes back, his season will be significantly cut into.
And there’s no guarantee that the Giants would prioritize Beal, a player that hasn’t yet played in an NFL game, as one of the two that they’re allowed to bring back from the list following week 8. Beal himself, however, is confident about not ending up on IR again.
Was that confidence well placed? We’ll see soon enough following the final preseason outing – for now, though, things don’t look good for the second year cornerback, who might just go another year without being able to see the field.