The New York Giants will “probably” be without LB Alec Ogletree, CB DeAndre Baker, and CB Sam Beal when they take on the Chicago Bears in their second preseason game.
This from Giants head coach Pat Shurmur following Wednesday’s practice.
Ogletree, Baker and Beal “probably” won’t play on Friday night because of injuries, according to Shurmur. Shurmur expects to play all four QB’s.
— Dan Salomone (@NYGsalomone) August 14, 2019
Ogletree suffered a strained calf in last week’s game against the New York Jets, and Baker gave the Giants a scare when he sprained his knee warm-ups on Sunday. Beal has been dealing with hamstring and groin injuries since training camp began.
Ogletree and Baker are secure in their spots atop their respective depth charts and their absence might turn out to be beneficial for the defense as it will likely give LBs Ryan Connelly (and potentially B.J. Goodson), as well as CBs Julian Love and Corey Ballentine more reps against higher quality competition.
Beal’s absence continued, however, is concerning. The Giants have been waiting for over a year to see Beal in action after spending a 2019 third round pick on him in the 2018 supplemental draft. The Giants think highly of his athleticism, movement skills, and coverage ability, it doesn’t help his case to be on the sideline while other players are on the field.
As to the second part of that tweet, it will be interesting to see how the Giants budget snaps for their quarterbacks. It would make sense for each to get a quarter, but the calculus of getting Eli Manning and Daniel Jones ready for the season balanced against potentially showing Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta off in case injury strikes another team could influence the team’s plans.