Giants 90-man roster breakdown: Can MLB Jon Beason be counted upon?

Can, or even should, the New York Giants rely on oft-injured middle linebacker Jon Beason? There is little doubt Beason still has the will to play? Can he find a way? Let's discuss Beason as we continue our player-by-player breakdown of the 90-man roster the Giants will bring to training camp later this year.

2014 Season in Review

Parlayed a nice sequence of games with the Giants in 2013, his first healthy stretch in several seasons, into a three-year, $17 million contract with $6.03 million guaranteed. Then, Beason did what has become his trademark over the past few seasons. He got hurt. In fact, he got hurt in OTAs in a non-contact drill, suffering a foot injury that cost him all of the offseason, training camp, the preseaosn and limited him to four regular season games before he shut it down for good. Beason was never the player he had been in 2013, and was never a factor for the Giants. Unless you are of the opinion that planning on Beason rather than moving on with a younger replacement had a negative impact.

2015 Outlook

Well, here we are again. The Giants are again planning/hoping/praying for Beason to be their middle linebacker. If his feet, or ankles, or knees, or Achilles tendons or some other body part doesn't break down and force him to the sidelines once again. From 2007-2010 Beason was one of the best linebackers in football, making the Pro Bowl three times and being named All-Pro once.

Those days, however, are gone. Beason still believes he is "the best in the game" when he is healthy. Sadly, he has rarely been healthy. He has played just 22 of 63 games over the past four seasons. Only once in those foru seasons has he played more than four games. How good he still is at age 30 after all of the injuries is debatable. There is little doubt that he isn't the athlete he once was.

What is Beason's outlook for 2015? That's anybody's guess. The Giants will cross their fingers and hope Beason can give them something. They would, however, be well-advised to be certain they know what their Plan B is at middle linebacker.