Vic Beasley Missing OTAs IS a Huge Deal

Vic Beasley missing OTAs, which is a voluntary thing, is not a good sign. Beasley can come up with whatever excuses him and Coach Quinn can think of, whether it’s training or volunteering within his community, but it’s not a good look for a player in a make-or-break season.

I just went over this last week with all the players that were missing from OTAs, a list that included Vic Beasley. I’m not going to waste your time going over why it’s okay that Grady Jarrett, Julio Jones, and Deion Jones all missed OTAs. Those three players all have logical reasons for missing the offseason workouts. Vic Beasly, however, does not have that same logical reasons for missing any offseason team workouts, voluntary or not. Laziness or a lack of ambition strikes me as the only reason Vic Beasley, a player on his literal last leg with the Falcons, would be willing to miss a chance to work with his team and coaches at improving his game.

At the start of the offseason, the Falcons shocked the world of Falcons fans by picking up Vic Beasley’s fifth-year option, worth around 13 million dollars for this coming season. This move was met with questions and criticisms from the start after Beasley posted dismal numbers in his last two seasons, five sacks in the last two seasons with less than ten QB hits in both seasons. It was widely assumed that Vic would be looking for a new home this offseason, or at the very least, have a new deal with the Falcons which would pay him much less in the coming season. Alas, we were all wrong and now, Vic is being paid more than players like Cam Jordan and Brandon Graham.

Dan Quinn will be taking over the defensive duties this coming season, on top of his head coaching duties. This move, made by Quinn himself, was thought to have been made to get more work with Vic Beasley, Quinn’s first ever draft pick as a head coach. By Beasley not showing up for his team’s offseason workouts, voluntary or not, is a slap in the face to the organization, Quinn especially. This Falcons team could have taken the money they are paying Vic, and instead, used that money to improve this defensive line with more than one player, a player who is a massive question mark in the first place. Instead, Quinn went out on a limb for his guy, a limb that Quinn may not be able to come back from if he’s burdened with another mediocre season.

Now, is it wrong for me to call a guy unmotivated and lazy? Yeah, probably. But it’s hard to see much else when a player who is in the midst of a make-or-break season starting out on such a sour note. Like it or not, Vic Beasley is a leader on this defense. He’s been here through the Super Bowl run, the ups-and-downs, everything. He’s a guy who needs to be leading by example. And missing OTAs is not the way a leader leads. Grady and Julio are in contract disputes. Deion is coming off a season plagued by injury. What is Vic’s excuse? Beasley played a full season last year, and put up five sacks, eight QB hits, and seven tackles for loss… in 16 games. And he was rewarded by having his lucrative fifth-year option picked up. I would think a player with such a bad season the year before would be doing everything he could to show he’s working on getting better. So far, we haven’t seen that from Vic Beasley this offseason.