In 2016 NFL free agency, Kelvin Beachum is a major wild card coming off of ACL surgery
Kelvin Beachum worked his way up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The former seventh-round pick started all 16 games in 2014 and had almost assured himself as the Steelers long-term starting left tackle. After building his reputation as a starter up, the fourth-year pro will now have to build himself back up from ACL surgery.
The Steelers seemed to be content with the play of Beachum’s replacement Alejandro Villanueva, so it gives Beachum a major decision to make.
Vitals
Age: 26
Size: 6-foot-3, 303 pounds
Pro Bowls: 0
All-Pros: 0
Contract comparison
Before going down, Beachum was climbing the charts towards being a top paid lineman. After going down you now have to question how much you can trust him with 39 career starts in four years, and the possibility of not being cleared for Week 1 of 2016.
It makes it tough to find a contract to base this upcoming one off of. The thought would be that most teams would not be giving him a lot of guaranteed money due to the questions. Without long-term money, Beachum will be unlikely to sign a long term deal, and will more than likely be betting on himself to set up a bigger pay day.
Estimate: 2 years/$17 million/$9 million guaranteed
Will he stay?
The play of Villanueva during the last 12 games of the season may have them prepared to say goodbye to Beachum. Villanueva is a special story, with a military background and minimal experience as a tackle. He is only signed for 2016, but is scheduled to make $530 thousand, which makes him a much cheaper immediate option than Beachum.
The Steelers can use this year to decided whether to pay Vilanueva or go a different route, but the moral of the story is that Beachum is very expendable. If he is looking for a decent pay day it will not be with the Steelers, so there is a good chance he will be signing elsewhere this off-season.
If he goes?
If the Steelers were to let Beachum walk the New York Jets would be an intriguing fit. At right tackle they have Breno Giacomini, who was a liability all season. On the left they have D’Brickshaw Ferguson, who has had a great career, but is on the downside and only has two years to go on his deal. In signing Beachum he isn’t forced to start right away with his injury, but at the same time can compete for starting time in the present and the future.
While everyone seems to be assigning Laremy Tunsil to the Titans at pick one, they could throw a screw in the plans and give Beachum a shot instead. It is obviously a fit, the Titans need offensive line help, and it frees up that first overall draft pick if they were not sold on Tunsil. The big question would be whether Beachum slides to right tackle, or the in the more likely case Taylor Lewan were to move to the right side.
Lastly the Minnesota Vikings may take the risk. Both Matt Kalil and Phil Loadholt are coming into contract years and both face major questions. Kalil has been a disappointment on the left side, and Beachum is a guy who instantly come in and compete with him to either get the best out of him, or no that he is not the answer.