Giants' Will Beatty done for season with rotator cuff injury
New York Giants tackle Will Beatty during the second day of minicamp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Will Beatty's 2015 season is over, and so might his Giants career.
The veteran tackle who spent the first half of the season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list recovering from a torn pectoral muscle will not be activated by Thursday's deadline because of a new injury to his rotator cuff. Tom Coughlin said that unrelated right shoulder injury will require surgery and Beatty will remain on PUP for the rest of the season.
Coughlin said the rotator cuff injury occurred as he worked in the offseason while rehabbing from the pectoral injury he suffered in the spring. He said Beatty tried wearing a strap to support the shoulder, but "it just wasn't enough."
"He's had an issue with that for quite a while," Coughlin said of Beatty, who began practicing with the team three weeks ago as per the PUP timeline. "He's practiced and he's worked hard to try to see what he was able to do with it. It's just not going to be something that will allow him to be the player that he can be."
The Giants were hoping Beatty could return to the lineup this season and provide more stability to an offensive line that has done well at times but been leaky at others - particularly on the right side. Before the initial injury, Beatty was slated to be the starting left tackle and his absence necessitated the move of rookie Ereck Flowers to that key position. Flowers has done well in that role.
Beatty has two years remaining on his contract with base salaries of $6.625 and $6.775 million due in 2016 and 2017. Given Flowers' performance at left tackle and the potential cap savings of $4.175 million if they cut Beatty this offseason, it's unlikely Beatty will return to the Giants next year under his current deal.
Beatty was a second-round pick from the University of Connecticut in 2009. He is the last player on the team from that draft class which included Hakeem Nicks, Clint Sintim, Ramses Barden, Travis Beckum, Andre Brown, Rhett Bomar, DeAndre Wright and Stoney Woodson.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
