Loss of Sam Beal is more than a tough blow for Giants

After forfeiting a 2019 third-round pick to bring in Sam Beal through the supplemental draft just a couple of weeks ago, the cornerback will miss the upcoming season with a shoulder injury.

That’s worse than bad luck. Way worse.

The Giants aren’t going to get a single snap out of Beal this season and they also lose out on a valuable pick in next year’s draft.

So what happened? How did this shoulder injury occur? Beal actually has injured this shoulder before, and general manager Dave Gettleman confirmed that the team knew about that.

Drafting a player in the supplemental draft is risky enough, but drafting one with a pre-existing injury is even more of a risk. Gettleman should be answering some tough questions for that decision.

Now of course, there will be a school of thought that Beal is basically next year’s third-round pick and he’ll still get valuable experience by learning from the sidelines during the season.

Based on the timing of the Sam Beal season-ending injury news, it would appear he failed his physical. If so, what happened here? Did the #Giants not give him a pre-draft physical? This is not something that should have popped up on them. IF they knew, why invest 2019 3rd rounder

— Dan Schneier (@DanSchneierNFL) July 25, 2018

But if he’s hurt the same shoulder this quickly, it’s fair to ask how good Beal will ever be and if he’ll ever come close to living up to being a third-round pick.

On top of all of that, the Giants made this pick because they’re looking to make a big move this season. Eli Manning is 37 years old and there’s no telling how much longer the window to win with him is going to be open.

The Giants needed help in the secondary and they felt they could pull out a big wild card by drafting Beal. Instead, it’s a move that will come up and smack them right in the face.

Now maybe Gettleman can get on the phone and call up Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, a move that will be and would have been a lot less of a risk than using a future third-round pick to bring in Beal.