Despite the foot injury which will cost him around 12 weeks of recovery time, Giants linebacker Jon Beason vows to come back for most of the regular season, if not all.
If that number is on target, Beason would be close to the Sept. 8 regular season opener.
“The prognosis is X amount of time and it [the opener] is within that timeframe,” Beason said, via the team’s official website. “I expect to be back [for that game]. If not, I’ll be back as soon as I can. That’s really how you have to look at it. If it’s not 16 [games played], maybe it’s 15 or 14. Whatever it is, you want it to be that number as opposed to one.”
Beason battled shoulder and knee problems with the Panthers (playing just eight games from 2011-13), which made it easier for them to trade him to the Giants after drafting Luke Kuechly.
But Beason’s track record in Charlotte still comes into play, as he’ll return there Monday to be evaluated by foot and ankle specialist Dr. Robert Anderson, one of the Panthers’ team doctors.
“I know that mentally you can’t get down on yourself,” Beason said. “You have to understand the situation and what you can control. The toughest part is knowing that there are a lot of people obviously in the locker room, the coaching staff, the organization and even the city that are counting on me to do my part and do it well. And it’s unfortunate because I worked so hard training. I feel great, I’m in good shape, I’m moving around a lot faster than I have in recent years. To have this setback kind of gets you back down to ground zero and then you have to work yourself back into football shape again. That’s disheartening, but it’s something that I think I can accomplish even under bad circumstances.”
The Giants will take a look at Mark Herzlich, Jameel McClain and fifth-round pick Devon Kennard in the middle until Beason returns, which probably keeps them from looking elsewhere.