Vic Beasley, Atlanta Falcons. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Vic Beasley’s wallet was hit hard after taking a while to rejoin the Tennessee Titans.
The Tennessee Titans were expecting pass rusher Vic Beasley to turn up to training camp reinvigorated as he tries to wash off the stink of a poor season in 2019, but were left stunned when he didn’t even show up at all. While Beasley has finally arrived at Titans practice and submitted to his COVID-19 testing, he did so after losing a good chunk of his $9,500,000 salary.
Ian Rapoport is reporting that the Titans have fined Beasley $500,000 for reporting 10 days late. While that sounds excessive, the new CBA makes holdouts punitive for players, which gave Tennessee the authority to come down hard on their new signing.
Vic Beasley is trying to restart his career with the Titans.
While Beasley recorded an NFL-best 15.5 sacks during his second season in the league, he recorded only 18 in the three following seasons, which helped the Falcons come to terms with cutting him loose and replacing him with Dante Fowler. A frequent PFF joke due to his poor run defense, Beasley went from a player who led the league in sacks on a team that went to a Super Bowl to a situational pass rusher looking for a fresh start on a new team in just three seasons.
Beasley was expected to take over Cameron Wake’s starting spot as the right outside pass rusher in Mike Vrabel’s 3-4 defense. If Beasley rediscovers what made him great and emerging star Harold Landry keeps getting better with each passing game, the Titans will have a defense in the same tier as their Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry-led offense.
While it took a lot of extra maneuvering to get Beasley into camp, he has finally ended his holdout. If he turns back the clock to 2016, this little incident will be swiftly forgotten.