Giants take Sam Beal in NFL supplemental draft

The Giants selected Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal in the third round of the NFL’s supplemental draft on Wednesday afternoon, the league announced.

The supplemental draft is for players who didn’t declare for the spring draft but are eligible to join the league.

Beal, 6-1 and 178 pounds, played in 37 games in three seasons at Western Michigan, including 23 starts. He started 11 games last season and had 26 tackles, 10 passes defensed and two interceptions. According to Western Michigan, all 32 NFL teams had a representative at Beal’s workout on June 28.

The Giants will give up their third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft for selecting Beal. The Giants announced later that they had waived cornerback Kenneth Durden.

“We’re very, very excited about getting Sam in the draft,” Giants general manager Dave Gettleman told Giants.com. “He’s long, he’s very athletic for a corner, he has all the physical skills, he can carry the vertical, he has very good play speed, he shows instincts out there, he has ball awareness, he doesn’t panic when the ball is thrown at his guy, and he is a very willing tackler. We just feel it gives us a really talented young kid with the ability to ascend.”

Only five players were eligible for this year’s supplemental draft — Beal, Virginia Tech defensive back Adonis Alexander, Mississippi State defensive back Brandon Bryant, Grand Valley State running back Martayveus Carter and Oregon State linebacker Bright Ugwoegbu. Alexander was selected in the sixth round by the Washington Redskins.

Both Beal and Alexander had been ruled academically ineligible for the 2018 college football season and decided to enter the supplemental draft.

The Giants had previously selected only two players in the supplemental draft, taking Duke quarterback Dave Brown in the first round in 1992 and Northeast Louisiana cornerback Tito Wooten in the fourth round in 1994.

With AP