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What Does Will Beatty’s Injury Mean For The Eagles?

By Anthony DiBona

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According to multiple reports, New York Giants starting left tackle Will Beatty suffered a torn pectoral injury during offseason workouts. This is a huge blow for the Giants as Beatty was one of the lone bright spots on their offensive line in 2014. Although they spent their first-round pick on offensive tackle Ereck Flowers, many believe he isn’t ready to play left tackle in the NFL right away.

According to the following report from Tom Rock, Beatty is expected to miss up to 5 months, which would put him out for a majority of the regular season.

The Giants most likely will try Flowers out at left tackle now, with him battling for the spot with veterans Marshall Newhouse, Geoff Schwartz and John Jerry. But Jerry and Newhouse are the only players out of those four with experience starting at left tackle. Neither player was very good at that spot when they played there either, both posted significantly worse numbers than Beatty as starting left tackles. In other words, unless Flowers can somehow fix his questionable technique and footwork in a single offseason, New York is in big trouble.

But what does this all mean for the Philadelphia Eagles? Quite a bit. They already feasted on the Giants’ offensive line in 2014, specifically right tackle Justin Pugh who was dominated by outside linebacker Connor Barwin in their first meeting this past season. Beatty didn’t allow a single sack in either game against the Eagles in 2014, while Pugh allowed 4 in just one game against Philadelphia, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The Giants specifically drafted Flowers so he could start at right tackle, moving Pugh into guard…but now he might be stuck on the outside again.

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Beatty finished the 2014 season rated as the 14th overall offensive tackle, according to PFF. It’s clear that this is a very unfortunate blow for the Giants that could really help the Eagles. While it’s tough to see any player get hurt, at the end of the day, it’s part of the game. Who knows? Maybe Flowers will emerge as a star left tackle and this was a blessing in disguise. But things seem to be on a downward trend right now in the “Big Apple.”

If Beatty is truly out until the beginning of November, he’d miss out on four divisional games including both match-ups against the Dallas Cowboys and one game each against the Eagles and that Washington football team. Beatty will also miss games against the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, two team’s with dangerous pass rushers. Poor Eli Manning is heading into a contract year and will be worrying about his blindside until Beatty returns.

If people were worried about the Eagles’ offensive line depth and questioning who is going to start at right guard. Just think about the Giants’ situation right now following Beatty’s unfortunate injury, it could be worse. Eagles starting left tackle Jason Peters ruptured his achilles in the 2011 offseason, so we sadly know how this feels. But either way, this is a big break for the Eagles and bad news for the Giants. Only time will tell how it all works out though, that’s why the game isn’t played on paper.

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