Jon Beason awaits a cart after getting injured during practice. (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

EAST RUTHERFORD — This was a risk the Giants understood.

When they signed Jon Beason, 29, to a three-year, $16.8 million contract a few months back, they were paying for the man who rejuvenated their struggling defense and pumped life back into a stale linebacker meeting room.

They accepted the man who played in just a handful of games over the past few seasons, suffering a left achilles’ rupture and undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee.

Though Beason downplayed the way his health was depicted in his six-plus previous seasons in Carolina, there were reports suggesting he had been playing through pain throughout the past two seasons. Members of the Giants staff have seen first-hand the amount of precautions that go into maintaining Beason’s health .

Yesterday, some of their fears were realized when Beason noticed a pain in his right foot and began walking gingerly toward the trainers huddled on the sideline during an 11-on-11 drill. Stevie Brown, who is completing recovery on a torn ACL, saw Beason and immediately notified the medical staff that help was needed.

Beason was carted off to the training room and then shuttled to the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he underwent a battery of tests. As of last night, the team did not have the results.

"We’ll get this one out of the way quick, I really don’t know much about Beason," head coach Tom Coughlin said after practice. "It’s a foot. He was running across the field and felt something at the bottom of his foot. We’ll see."

Coughlin later clarified that he wasn’t sure if the injury was located on the bottom of Beason’s foot.

What he was sure of, though, was the kind of player he’d be missing if Beason’s injury turned out to be serious. He has taken nearly every rep at middle linebacker during offseason camp and is backed up by a platoon of Mark Herzlich and rookie Devon Kennard.

The Giants floundered without a middle linebacker last season and were desperate for a playmaker in the center of their defense until Beason came along.

With no major upgrades, they would be back to the same linebacking corps that struggled to replace then-starter Dan Connor.

"(He’s) very important," Coughlin said. "Because of the nature of the man, his attitude, what he brings to the table, his leadership skills. He’s very important."

At the time Beason went down yesterday, Kennard was working at the middle linebacker spot with the second unit and Herzlich was with the third-team, though both have rotated with the backups during training camp.

The Giants coaching staff has been high on Kennard.

"He’s picked things up very well. He’s very smart, very good on the board," Coughlin said. "He’s done a nice job on the field, a good job on special teams. We’re excited about him. A nice big kid, strong kid."

Kennard would have big shoes to fill. And even though this was a calculated risk that the Giants knew they were taking, there is no way they wanted to find out what comes next so soon.