Jeremy

Beal

Beal suffered the injury in Thursday’s preseason finale. A seventh-round pick last season, Beal spent his entire rookie year on the practice squad.

A 2011 seventh-round pick, Beal spent his rookie year on the practice squad and then spent 2012 on injured reserve due to a knee injury.

Beal missed the entire 2012 season after sustaining a knee injury in the preseason finale. The 2011 seventh-rounder is still a long shot to make the final 53, especially after the Broncos added Shaun Phillips.

Beal was thoroughly unimpressive at the Senior Bowl, so he needed a big Combine to allay concerns he might lack necessary athleticism for the NFL. Obviously, a time of 5-plus seconds in the forty is only going to hurt Beal further. Despite a ridiculously productive college career, Wes Bunting of the National Football Post is grading Beal as an undrafted free agent.

An accomplished pass rusher, Beal is relentless when going after the quarterback, and tallied an impressive 27 sacks his final three seasons at Oklahoma. However, he posted a 40 time of over 5.0 at the NFL Combine, likely planting the seed in NFL teams’ minds that he doesn’t have the necessary athleticism to stick on a 53-man roster. His college production is hard to ignore, though.

Beal was an incredibly productive pass rusher at Oklahoma, but scouts believe he lacks the athleticism to last in the pros despite all his domination of the Big 12 conference. Beal will have to fight for a reserve role as a rookie.