The New York Giants’ decision to release fan favorite receiver Odell Beckham Jr. shouldn’t have caught anyone off guard, especially not those who watched him fail to catch a single pass over the season’s first three weeks.
That didn’t make Tuesday’s news any easier for Giants fans, many of whom took to social media and ripped the team for even bothering to bring Beckham back in the first place. The three-time Pro Bowler signed a one-year, prove-it deal on June 1 and impressed throughout the summer, but drew only a single target in 20 regular-season snaps.
“This might’ve been the most pointless reunion I’ve ever seen,” one Reddit user wrote.
Another commenter argued the Giants “really nostalgia baited” their fans. Which, in fairness, is exactly what we argued for weeks before the Beckham signing.
Others, though, were more somber, with one fan saying the reunion was “too good to be true.”
“The vibes are definitely back, he really only got one route in the season and Jameis [Winston] just completely fumbled that,” they wrote. “He could’ve at least got one more moment in MetLife.”
What went wrong for Odell Beckham Jr. in his New York Giants reunion?
When the Giants officially signed Beckham, we fell into the trap of thinking Harbaugh would force him the ball given their prior experience in Baltimore. Malik Nabers — who was among the more vocal advocates for Beckham’s potential return — and the since released Darius Slayton were both recovering from injuries at the time.
At this time last week, we openly wondered whether the change from Jaxson Dart to Winston would mean more targets for Beckham. And, seeing as he didn’t have any balls thrown his way in the Giants’ first two games, we were technically correct.
But the bottom line is what common sense suggested from the jump: Beckham is a 33-year-old who hasn’t played since December 2024, nor had he been a consistent contributor since before his 2020 knee injury. The odds of him ever making a difference were stacked against him.
And yet, there’s no one who really deserves fault here. Beckham did everything right during the offseason and he earned his roster spot. All sides deserve credit for ending the experiment now rather than prolong things.
“Unfortunately most people don’t get the fairytale ending,” one Redditor wrote. “Just the way it is.”
Considering that Beckham didn’t play last year and doesn’t offer special teams value, we’d be surprised to see him land on another 53-man roster anytime soon. Theoretically, his next stop could be on a practice squad, maybe with the Chargers given his familiarity with offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
Either way, Beckham got to run out of the Giants’ tunnel one last time, and recent months have only helped his cause to eventually enter the Ring of Honor. So maybe things weren't a total waste of time.
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