NY Giants free agency targets: Vic Beasley edition

With the distinct possibility of the NY Giants missing out on the top edge rushers on the market, the team needs to keep its eye on high-upside guys like Vic Beasley.

Vic Beasley has seen it all during his five-year NFL career; the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. For the NY Giants, though, the idea of adding a former first-team All-Pro edge rusher is something that needs to be considered.

The truth is, even at his lowest, the type of production that Beasley put together in Atlanta was mostly still better than what Big Blue has seen out of its edge-rushing group over the past few years. With Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff making it pretty clear that the team will be moving on from the former top-ten pick at the Senior Bowl last month, he’ll be right there for the taking if the Giants are interested.

At his best, the former Clemson Tiger is right up there with the very best pass-rushers in the NFL. During the Falcons’ Super Bowl run season in 2016, Beasley put together a monster campaign that included 15.5 sacks, 7 TFL and 6 forced fumbles en route to making that first-team All-Pro team.

To his credit, even when he was struggling Beasley was pretty much always on the field. The defensive end missed just two games in five seasons with Atlanta and never produced less than four sacks in any campaign.

With the sky appearing to be the limit heading into his third season in 2017, Beasley regressed as Falcons head coach Dan Quinn inexplicably experienced moving him to 4-3 outside linebacker for reasons unbeknownst to anyone. The move was an abject failure and short-lived, but surely contributed – along with injuries (that he played through) – to Beasley racking up just 10 sacks and 13 QB hits in 2017/2018 combined.

Atlanta had seen enough out of Beasley to pick up his fifth-year option for 2019 and he actually had a strong bounceback season, picking up 42 tackles, eight sacks, and two forced fumbles while finishing the season strongly.

Still, the Falcons don’t seem interested in further investing in their former draft pick and the NY Giants would be wise to swoop in and attempt to capitalize on the 27-year-old that is still oozing potential. By all accounts, Beasley is a high character player that would fit in well in Big Blue’s young locker room.

Beasley seems like the type of edge-rusher that would flourish in a 3-4 system. Always likely too small to have been playing defensive end in the NFL, the 246 LB edge could benefit greatly from relying more on his speed and bend rather than his strength. Furthermore, he has experience playing outside linebacker and having to drop back in coverage.

As I’ve said multiple times now, it’s unlikely that Big Blue is going to land the likes of Jadeveon Clowney or Matthew Judon, so having effective Plan B’s and C’s is going to be critical to ensure a successful free agency period.

Vic Beasley represents a very intriguing Plan B that could turn out to be a home run.

Hypothetical Offer: 3 years/$21M ($10M GTD)