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Beason Selected for Pro Bowl |
By playerpress.com wire service / November 16, 2008 |
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Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Jon Beason today was selected to his first Pro Bowl in just his second year in the NFL.
Beason, named Defensive Captain of the Panthers this season, has racked up a team-leading 134 tackles in 14 games and also is tied for the team lead in interceptions with three.
Beason, a first-round draft pick out of Miami in 2007, said he was emotional after being selected a Pro Bowl reserve for the NFC, behind San Francisco’s Kevin Willis.
“I’m emotional and didn’t think I would be,” Beason said. “It means a lot to know your peers recognize the way you play and to have all the hard work pay off is a dream come true.”
Beason was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October, a month punctuated when Beason made a big interception in the fourth quarter to help seal a 27-23 victory over Arizona in Week 8.
The Panthers, 11-3, also will send wide receiver Steve Smith, offensive lineman Jordan Gross and defensive end Julius Peppers to Hawaii. |
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| Beason: NFC Player of the Month |
By playerpress.com wire service / November 6, 2008 |
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Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Jon Beason was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October, becoming only the third Panther to win the award.
(Trivia: Who were the two others, and what year? Answer below.)
Beason, a first-round draft pick in 2007 out of Miami, is in his second year as a starter for the Panthers. In October he led the team with 37 tackles and had two interceptions, one of which he returned 44 yards, as Carolina went 3-1.
“I’ve never really been big on the individual stuff,” Beason said. “It feels good, it’s something to strive for, but I want to be a champion—not the Defensive Player of the Month. If you win an award, that’s like a bonus, but winning a Super Bowl dominates my thoughts and dreams and just about everything I do.”
Beason, the team’s defensive captain, set a franchise record last season with 160 tackles and this year is second in the NFC with 79, behind only Patrick Willis of the 49ers with 82.
Beason added 14 more last Sunday in a win over Oakland, the fifth time in nine games this season he’s been in double digits.
Panthers coach John Fox told beat reporters that Beason has improved with experience.
“He was late to camp a year ago,” Fox said. “He started at outside linebacker and was moved to middle linebacker. Being a rookie is enough of a problem in itself and then to change positions … I’m sure he’d tell you he’s a lot more comfortable. He’s more comfortable with the league. He’s got more of a pro body now as far as off-season conditioning and length of season and the things that go along with that maturity.”
Trivia answer: Julius Peppers, October 2006, and Sam Mills, November 1995 and ’96.
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| Beason: Ray Lewis, 10 Years Younger? |
By playerpress.com wire service / August 13, 2008 |
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He’s a linebacker. A first-round draft pick out of Miami. He wears No. 52 and he hits like few in the NFL can.
If you’re thinking about Ray Lewis, you wouldn’t be wrong. But we’re also describing Carolina Panthers’ second-year middle linebacker Jon Beason, a dominant hitter and tackler in the mold of Lewis—only, at 23, 10 years younger.
But Beason is more than a Lewis clone, though being compared to a sure-fire Hall of Famer is never a bad thing. Beason is carving out his own niche, racking up 140 tackles as a rookie for the Panthers last season, tops on his team. When he wasn’t taking down ballcarriers he was blowing up blockers and filling up passing lanes.
“I think it’s an honor to be compared to him,” Beason said of Lewis. “For me, I always wanted to be like Ray Lewis and cover like Derrick Brooks. Being compared to a definite Hall of Famer is a good starting block for me, it gives me something to strive for.”
At 6-0, 237 pounds, Beason has the strength required of a linebacker while adding surprising speed from sideline-to-sideline as well as quickness in all directions. He’s also fundamentally sound, and in just his second year he will be counted on to be the quarterback of the Panthers’ defense. He’ll even wear the headset inside his helmet, so the defensive coordinator can communicate the signals to Beason, who will relay them to the rest of the defense after customizing the call based on alignment, stance and formation of the offense.
And once he gets to a ballcarrier, few in the league can finish a play like Beason, who is looking to improve on a rookie year that saw him place second in the voting for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
“Right now I’m working extremely hard, training even harder than I did last year, just because of the simple fact that everyone talks about the sophomore slump,” Beason said. “I know by any stretch of the imagination I’m not a fluke. I want to be one of the top guys every year, right up there with the best of them.”
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