Giants Add Linebacker Darrian Beavers to Defense with Final Draft Pick

New York closes out its 2022 draft class by adding more firepower to the defense and special teams.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Apr 30, 2022 4:36 PM EDT

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The Giants continued to add depth to their defense with their final pick in the 2022 draft. The selection of Cincinnati linebacker Darrian Beavers to the mix gives the Giants six defensive players and five on offense in general manager Joe Schoen's first draft with the Giants.

Beavers, 6-foot-4 and 237 pounds, is a versatile linebacker who can line up anywhere on the field but who projects as a two-down inside linebacker early on in his career. He began his career at UCONN before transferring to the Bearcat two years in.

In 56 career games, Beavers racked up 230 total tackles, including 27.5 tackles for a loss. He also recorded 13.5 sacks, three interceptions, and five pass breakups.

NFL Draft Bible praised Beavers for his football IQ, noting:

He shows good intelligence throughout his game, especially in coverage, getting good depth on his drops into zones and being able to read the quarterback’s eyes. He lacks the athleticism and foot speed to have a huge impact at the next level. Despite his size, Beavers struggles with his ability to finish plays off because of inconsistent tackling techniques out in space.

NFL.com's Chad Reuter echoes several other scouting reports that describe Beavers as having "throwback size and athleticism," noting that the linebacker's background as a core special teamer could help his case in making a roster.

Inside linebacker with throwback size but also throwback athleticism that fails to fit cleanly into today's brand of football. Beavers is a phone-booth linebacker who is well-schooled in taking on and slipping blocks between the tackles but can be overwhelmed by athletic opponents when forced to move and play in space. He plays too stiff-legged and with a lack of desired agility, which gets him tangled up in traffic more than teams might like. He'll need to lean into a role as a thumper to make a team, which will require improvement in consistently attacking and discarding blockers.

The Giants inside linebacker group, which looked thin despite the revamping of Blake Martinez's contract, now gives them a healthy-looking group where there should be some staunch competition among Beavers, fifth-rounder Micah McFadden, and young veterans T.J. Brunson, Carter Coughlin, Tae Crowder, and Cam Brown.