William Beatty had a very good season last year and left tackles don’t grow on trees, I know that. ProFootballFocus’ 12th ranked offensive tackle this season, Beatty committed 11 penalties, but allowed just 3 sacks and 22 combined hits and hurries, while making 15 of 16 starts on the incredibly valuable blindside. However, this is a classic case of paying for one year. It’s always important to consider where a guy was a year ago.

In Beatty’s first 3 years in the NFL after being taken in the 2nd round in the 2009 NFL Draft, he was solid in limited action, but could never stay on the field. In those 3 seasons, he played just over a full season’s worth of snaps, 1261. If he stays healthy and plays like he did last season, Beatty will be worth this 7.75 million dollar yearly salary over 5 years (5 years 38.75 million), but that’s a big if and 19 million guaranteed is a lot to commit to someone with his injury history.

Finally, as rare as it normally is to see a franchise left tackle available on the open market, this year that’s not the case. With Jake Long, Andre Smith, Branden Albert, Sebastian Vollmer and Gosder Cherilus set to hit the open market barring any surprise franchise tags, Beatty would have been just one of six of ProFootballFocus’ top-13 offensive tackles from 2012 available this off-season.

Obviously your own guy is more valuable to you than he would be to anyone else because of the familiarity factor, but this was a buyer’s market at offensive tackle this off-season and a good offensive line draft. The Giants may have jumped the gun here and should have opted to let the market set the price. At the end of free agency, this deal could easily look like an overpay even before you consider Beatty’s injury history.

Grade: C

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