NY Giants player shockingly opts-out on eve of deadline

The NY Giants organization likely wasn’t planning on any more player opt-outs, but on the eve of the deadline, the team was stunned to find out one more decided to sit out the 2020 season.

If you were to rank the NY Giants’ projected 55*-man roster from 1-55 on who would be the least likely to opt-out of the 2020 season, Sam Beal would have ranked right near the bottom of the entire team.

After Dave Gettleman took a big risk by selecting him in the third round of the 2019 Supplemental Draft (having to give up the team’s 2019 in the process), the lanky cornerback has spent far more time on the sideline and in the training room than on the actual football field for the NY Giants.

Heading into year three, Beal has played in just 6 of a possible 32 games and missed almost all offseason action due to injuries.

That won’t change in 2020, as Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that Beal has in fact decided to opt-out of this upcoming NFL campaign.

Via Twitter:

In the wake of the DeAndre Baker arrest scandal, Sam Beal figured to benefit just about the most out of any NY Giants player as he would be first (or second) in line to get a crack at taking Baker’s spot and lining up opposite newcomer James Bradberry.

Now, an already thin cornerback group looks even thinner (no pun intended) on paper as the group consists of the high-priced free-agent addition Bradberry and a bunch of young players still looking to make their mark in the NFL.

In effect, Sam Beal is taking a redshirt year as he will be paid a 150K advance on his salary and have his contract toll into next year; in other words, he’s still signed on for two more seasons at about $1M per season.

According to Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com, Beal is choosing to opt-out due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

This news will hit Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge hard, as even though they’ve taken a major hit in the DeAndre Baker case, they still seemed to have just enough young talent to scrape by in the secondary during a rebuilding season.

Sam Beal now becomes the third NY Giants player to opt-out of the 2020 season, which is still less than average compared to the rest of the league, although his opt-out will be felt a lot harder than the ever-struggling Nate Solder’s or the relatively unknown Da’Mari Scott’s

Will the NY Giants go out and sign a free-agent cornerback?

Even before Sam Beal shocked us all today by signing off for the 2020 NFL season, many NY Giants fans had been clamoring for the team to sign cornerback Logan Ryan with the newly-found cap “savings” that Nate Solder opting-out afforded the team for 2020.

At the time, I was vehemently against the move as I consider Logan Ryan to be an average to slightly above-average cornerback that is seeking to be paid like an elite one.

Last season, Ryan allowed 781 passing yards and 5 touchdowns while allowing 66% of passes thrown his way to be completed; this came after a year where QB’s targeting him enjoyed a rating of 102.

Not to mention, Ryan is 29 and has plenty of tread on his tires, which doesn’t exactly fit with our rebuilding narrative.

If we were a team that was in serious Super Bowl or playoff contention then its surely a move you consider, but right now, even without Sam Beal, throwing that kind of money at an aging and declining Logan Ryan doesn’t make sense for the NY Giants.

Now the question becomes, is there anyone else out there on the market that’s worth considering bringing in? Other than Ryan, none of the cornerbacks that are currently available are expected to draw much of anything in the way of a big contract with guaranteed money.

If Dre Kirkpatrick, 30, would accept a one-year prove-it type deal I’d be on okay with bringing him on to help stabilize the young cornerback room that has been rocked over the past few months.

Although I mostly roll my eyes at “leaders” and “mentorship”, this room is full of inexperienced corners and even their prized free-agent addition is only 26.

There are a few other attractive options on the market, but again, only if they were willing to come play for the NY Giants on the cheap.

Otherwise, Big Blue might as well just stand pat as they’re still going to have to pay Solder and Beal’s salaries next season, and the Markus Golden addition prior to those opt-outs had basically left the team penniless