Giants’ Beason (foot) hopes to play in opener

Linebacker Jon Beason re-upped with the Giants in March. (USATSI)

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Giants linebacker Jon Beason left practice Thursday with a foot injury, and a day later, the team is calling it a ligament tear and a small fracture to the sesamoid in his right foot. He will undergo further tests Monday but NFL Network Kimberly Jones reports that the linebacker could be out 12 weeks.

Whatever the recovery period, Beason hopes to be on the field when the Giants face Lions in the season opener.

“The prognosis is X amount of time and it (the Sept. 8 opener) is within that timeframe,” Beason said Friday, according to Giants.com. “I expect to be back (for that game). If not, I'll be back as soon as I can. That's really how you have to look at it. If it's not 16 (games played), maybe it's 15 or 14. Whatever it is, you want it to be that number as opposed to one."

Beason was traded to the Giants last October, and while he didn't grade out particularly well, according to ProFootballFocus.com, he was part of a Giants defense that ranked sixth in Football Outsiders' efficiency metric (third vs. the run, eighth vs. the pass). But injuries have plagued him throughout his career, which began with the Panthers, who selected him in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft.

“It's just one of those things – you have freak injuries,” Beason said. “I was just changing directions. ... I literally felt like I stepped in like a sprinkler head hole. I just felt it give right away, so the next step I knew I couldn't put the foot down.

“I had a bad feeling," he continued. "I really felt that I that I had torn the extensor, which is the tendon with the muscle, it's how your big toe functions. That would have been season-ending. So at least now there's a procedure, possibly. We haven't decided if it's something that's invasive or something that you just kind of let heal on its own. The timeframe is about the same, but it's not season-ending, so I'm happy about that.”

In the meantime, Mark Herzlich, Jameel McClain and Devon Kennard are expected to split reps at linebacker.

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Justin Forsett is Ravens' No. 2 RB in OTAs



If Bernard Pierce was healthy, there is no doubt that he would be the direct backup to Ray Rice during Baltimore's OTAs. But he will be sidelined until training camp after undergoing shoulder surgery in January. In a small surprise, it is Justin Forsett filling that backup role while rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro is third on the depth chart.



Taliaferro, a fourth-round rookie, should pass Forsett in due time. Perhaps he would have already if didn't try to tear apart a taxi cab (allegedly). The Ravens have high expectations for the rookie, and he is much more in their long-term plans than Forsett, but he'll need to earn everything he gets. He certainly won't be getting any benefit of the doubt.This is worth watching, because Rice is likely to be suspended for some period of time this season due to his domestic dispute back in February. Pierce would be the likely starter during then and backed up by one of these two players. Even when Rice is available, Forsett might carve out some time as a third-down back if he is still ahead of Taliaferro.