When the New York Giantsopen the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday night, Sean Locklear, not Will Beatty, will be their starting left tackle, Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledger reports.
Beatty, who is battling a back injury, is expected to dress and could see time as a sixth offensive lineman in jumbo packages, Garafolo adds.
Locklear has started 82 games during his eight-year career with the Seattle Seahawks (2004-10) and Washington Redskins (2011), primarily playing right tackle. The Seahawks viewed Locklear as a potential long-term replacement for future Hall of Famer Walter Jones, but Locklear struggled when asked to do so during the 2008 and 2009 seasons and was moved back to right tackle when Seattle used the sixth overall draft pick of the 2010 NFL Draft on Russell Okung.
Locklear got a previous opportunity to play left tackle after Jones injured his knee while being beaten for three sacks by DeMarcus Ware during a Thanksgiving game in 2008. Locklear will see plenty of Ware on Wednesday night, but he feels as though he's prepared to handle the challenge.
"I said before I was probably like 90 percent aware of the playbook, but now I feel like I've got a grasp of it, especially now we're in game weeks and the playbook is kind of cut down on the things you're going to do for certain games," Locklear said. "I'm prepared. I was hesitant with things, but now I feel like with the more practice I've gotten, the more comfortable I feel."
Eli Manning and the Giants will be hoping so.