OT Will Beatty no. 65

Q: Did you do anything different in lifting in the offseason program?

A: No, it was a freak accident. It wasn’t, I mean I was lifting heavy, but it wasn’t my max. It was just something like, ‘What happened?’ I just don’t really know what happened. I know that I got to go into the recovery looking towards the future rather than the past.
 
Q: It kind of has that built-in timetable for you in the season. If they keep you on PUP, you kind of know you have until week eight to get back, right?

A: I mean they haven’t said anything to how they are going to do that. It is more of I have the opportunity to come back and they are letting me know that early, so it’s like ‘don’t sit around and don’t mope around, you have got to get back on your horse and we have got to get back not only as fast as possible but also healthy enough and strong so you can be a factor in the game.’ Not just ‘oh, I have recovered.’ So the fact that they still want me is a good thing and it is much easier to live with the positive things than the negatives.
 
Q: I’m sure you came into the season motivated anyway because they drafted Ereck Flowers. Obviously the last couple seasons haven’t gone as planned record-wise. How hard is it to sort of pull back from that?

A: We drafted a great guy and knowing that the best five are going to play. [Seeing] what he can do in college, now I am going to see what he can do here. That aggressiveness, that streak, and you don’t want to get injured to see that but you want to see him shine. My mental thing is more about me, not about anyone else, so it didn’t matter if we did draft someone or not. I was talking to the doctor, he was like ‘we could have surgery, it is something that can be 100 percent when you recover’ so that is my goal and that is my mentality, to get back out there and to still prove to myself that I can still do this. Still prove to the team and thanking them for still giving me the opportunity and expecting to be back, saying, ‘We want you to be back.’ You never know how it is going to go and just being in this each year, you have to be thankful for every year you get to play in this league and this organization. That is more of my mindset [and] that is more of my goal, not losing my spot or what is going on for when I get back. Let me be able to contribute to this and let me get healthy so they can use me and I can show them I am building on last season.
 
Q: Have you given Flowers any advice on what his job is going to be or what he is going to be facing at left tackle?

A: No not too much, not now. I am letting the O line coach handle it and he has a lot on his plate right now just learning plays and coming in. I’m just watching how he is doing. It is still very early on and once we get to camp, that is when the full pads [come on] and let’s see how you go and then that is when you play. You know if the player is having…and just what he is showing on film before he is ready to go, he is going to pick up where he left off last season and it is just putting on a different jersey and playing against a few different players. I am not worried about that and that aspect, but I am more ‘how can I be here and not get lost in the crowd or get put on the backburner?’
 
Q: Are you confident that can happen? That you cannot get lost in the shuffle here?

A: I mean, I have been in the league going on seven. You’ve been reporting for I don’t know how long. Ever since I have been here, I have seen you so you know how things can change and things go in and out. If I focus on that, the uncertainties of the game, you are just rolling dice. The things I know are that the doctors said I can come back 100 percent, so that means I can come back and how I finished last year, I can build on that because of this diagnosis so I can use that as a positive to get back and work hard to make sure that I am still in that position and when my time is called, to get out there on the field I can perform and still do that. I’m used to competing and that is why I am here and why I am a part of this team and why I love being here.