EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- There are no easy answers for the New York Giants at left tackle after starter Will Beatty tore his pectoral muscle last week. And since it's not even June yet, whatever answers they come up with right now aren't guaranteed to be the long-term ones. But in the first organized team activities of the offseason, it was rookie Ereck Flowers who jumped into Beatty's spot and took the first-team reps at left tackle.

"The best thing is for him to get his reps with the starting group where we can challenge him," Giants quarterback Eli Manning said of Flowers, who was the No. 9 overall selection in the first round of the draft four weeks ago. "He's going to make every mistake there is, and he's going to learn from them. But the faster you can learn the play calls and get used to your assignments, the better you're going to play when the season starts.

"He's big and strong and mean, so those are three pretty good requirements for a left tackle," Manning said. "He wants to be a good player. He has the right attitude, and sometimes that's all you need."

Flowers just turned 21 last month, and prior to the draft most evaluations had him as a project who could help right away as a run-blocker on the right side but would need a lot of work and refinement before he could be a starting NFL left tackle. So obviously, there's a chance Flowers won't be able to handle the role right away and they'll have to change the plan over the next three months. But the Giants are higher on Flowers than most of the draft experts were, as coach Tom Coughlin firmly indicated after Wednesday's practice.

"We thought he was a heck of a football player, or he wouldn't be here," Coughlin said. "He has outstanding feet, nifty for a big man, yes, all of the above. He's an outstanding young player, he's going to do nothing but get better. We know he's got some things to work on, but there's time."

Beatty tore his pectoral muscle on the bench press last Tuesday and had surgery to repair it the following day. He's expected to be out five-to-six months. Coughlin said the injury came about because Beatty was "trying to get stronger, as I've challenged our whole team to do."

"He was lifting X amount of weight, I'm not going to say how much, and he was in the middle of the second rep when this unfortunate thing happened," Coughlin said. "Why it happened? Who knows."

Now, the Giants will have to find a replacement, and Flowers sees no reason it can't be him.

"If I'm playing on the left, I'll play on the left," Flowers said. "If I'm playing on the right, I'll play on the right. If I'm playing center, I'll play center."

Second-year man Weston Richburg took the reps at center and seems locked into that spot for the start of the 2015 season. Justin Pugh, the 2013 first-round pick who started at right tackle his first two seasons, was at left guard, where Coughlin said they'd decided to move him before Beatty's injury.

"We moved him with the full intent that he would be able to play there," Coughlin said. "Now, do we have to take another look at that? Perhaps. But I'm not going to say that."

For his part, Pugh sounds as though he's all-in on the move to left guard, a move of which he says he was informed two weeks ago.

"I'm embracing it," Pugh said. "I'm going to be the best left guard I can be. I'm for winning games this year, I think this gives us the best shot, and I'm ready for the challenge."

The right tackle spot was manned in this practice by Marshall Newhouse, the former Packers tackle who signed this offseason as a backup. Newhouse obviously knows the offense, which former Packers assistant and current Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo brought with him from Green Bay. But it remains to be seen whether he can handle starting right tackle duty.

Geoff Schwartz, who was signed last year to play left guard and barely played as a result of toe and ankle injuries, played right guard in Wednesday's practice but had to switch off with 2014 starter John Jerry. Schwartz is still not all the way back to full strength following last year's ankle injury. He's happy at right guard but said he could slide out and play right tackle if they needed him to do that. He played right tackle in both of the games he played for the Giants last season.