Could Darrian Beavers, Micah McFadden be Giants’ linebackers of the future?

Could Micah McFadden and Darrian Beavers be the long-term answers at inside linebacker for the New York Giants?

The duo, McFadden a fifth-round pick and Beavers a sixth-round pick, would like nothing better.

“That’s the goal. That’s the goal for all of us coming in. Micah and I talk about it all the time,” Beavers said. “Trying to set a new standard. Trying to have one of those historic defenses in general or teams in general, trying to put another banner up here, and that’s obviously the end goal.”

“Our motto is BITTLE — that means best in the league,” McFadden said. “That’s what we strive to be every single day when we come out to practice and the way we prepare and the way we hold our standard. We definitely want to be some of the best linebackers in the league. I think that’s what everybody in the room is striving for.”

As it turns out the two have become besties who who would love to do that together. They met while working out together for the NFL Combine at Exos in Pensacola. Now, they room together and spend almost all of their time together.

“We spend literally all day together besides when we’re sleeping or something like that but we literally spend all day together,” Beavers said. “Like right now we’ll probably go the hot tub together, ice bath together. Go get lunch together and go watch film together. We literally do everything together.”

Right now, the two are playing together on the second defensive unit, Beavers at the MIKE and McFadden the WILL. Beavers is also getting a healthy share of first-team reps in place of Blake Martinez, limited in training camp thus far as he works back from his 2021 torn ACL.

“I think they’re both coming along really well and right on schedule,” defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said recently in regards to McFadden and Beavers.

McFadden admitted that there might be “at least a little trash talk” between the roomies about who made the better play or had the better practice. The two, though, are enjoying each other’s company and having someone to learn the defense with.

“There’s always conversation. And sometimes we joke with each other, like, I think I had a little better day than you or I think you had a better day than me,” McFadden said. “So it’s kind of just knowing where our standards at. We’re honest with each other, too. At the same time, [we want] each other to be great. So, it’s always good conversation.

Beavers agreed.

“It’s nice to sometimes be out there on the field with him having someone that you know that you studied with last night and know that he knows that he can trust me and I can trust him,” Beavers said. “Having someone like Micah like that is actually pretty nice. For me when I’m out in the field makes it more comfortable.”

Martinez likes what he has seen from the two rookies.

“I think they’re great rookies. I think every single day they come to work, they’ve shown a lot of a lot of things on the field, whether in the meeting room, in individual 7-on-7,” Martinez said. “They have all the stuff, the tools to be able to go out here and play an NFL. And I’m excited to keep seeing them progress.”

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images

McFadden and Beavers are a bit of an odd couple in at least one way — clothes. That came up when I mentioned to McFadden Saquon Barkley’s comment that quarterback Tyrod Taylor “smells good.”

So, I had to ask McFadden if his roomie smells good.

“DB? If he’s getting dressed up he actually does have his colognes,” McFadden said. “I can tell when he’s getting ready because the whole place starts smelling like body spray. I think he’s an Axe guy.”

As for clothes?

“He’s got he’s got some good fits,” McFadden said of Beavers. “Me on the other hand, I’m lacking. They [teammates] try to help me out, though.”

McFadden, though, does appreciate the friendship with Beavers.

“We’re good friends. He’s a good dude. It’s cool,” McFadden said. “Just to come in with somebody who’s your age, and obviously we got to train together for the Combine and getting to be at a spot learning the defense with another rookie. It’s special.”

As Day 3 draft picks by the Giants, both have something else to bond over. There apparently were not a lot of evaluators who thought they could be quality NFL players.

McFadden had only two Power 5 scholarship offers coming out of high school — choosing Indiana over Boston College. He carries that feeling of being an overlooked player with him.

“I think once you are overlooked once it kind of never really, it’s hard to get over that feeling,” McFadden said. “Wherever you go you have that feeling that people don’t think I’m gonna fit here, whatever the case is, wherever you are, and I felt that way in college, and then you take that chip on your shoulder wherever you go. You can’t go wrong with that type of mentality.”

Beavers was the Giants’ final selection, No. 182 in Round 6.

“Obviously going into the draft everybody if you ask anybody, any football player, you feel like you want to be the first person off the board. Obviously, I wanted to be the highest person off the board or get drafted the highest,” Beavers said. “But my goal in life since I was growing up was to be drafted. And I feel like that’s me being completely honest. My goal was to be drafted.

“When you’re here, the draft status doesn’t matter. There’s undrafted, free agents coming out here and balling. I feel like when you’re on the field, it doesn’t matter. We all have something to prove out here. And I feel like that’s the main goal.”

The duo has thus far shown that the Giants might end up being right for having taken late-round chances on them. If that continues, the fact that they have become such good friends and are doing it together will make it even sweeter.