Welcome back to the Odell Beckham Jr. show, though there may be fewer touchdown celebrations and viral catches this time around.
Beckham is officially back, joining a New York Giants receivers room decimated by injuries. Although the three-time Pro Bowler hasn’t played since December 2024, his arrival nonetheless generated excitement on social media.
The Athletic’s Dan Duggan is among those cautioning Giants fans to dial it back and take a deep breath. Beckham missed all of 2022, and he has only 44 catches since the start of 2023. He turns 34 in November and hasn't even topped 600 receiving yards since 2019.
Duggan believes that the "best case" scenario for Beckham and the Giants is him serving in a mentorship role, especially for the young players still adjusting to the New York market.
“Beckham saw it all during his five years in New York,” Duggan wrote, “accumulating experiences that can be shared with teammates as they learn to manage the spotlight.”
Giants players would be wise to learn from Odell Beckham Jr.’s various mistakes
In his prime, Beckham was a charismatic, above-average receiver on mostly mediocre Giants teams. Like many other New York athletes, though, Beckham made his fair share of off-field errors along the way.
Duggan specifically cited Beckham and the Giants’ infamous 2017 boat incident, as well as his “ill-advised” interview with ESPN a year later. Beckham, sitting alongside Lil Wayne in October 2018, made comments about the Giants’ offense that were interpreted as a jab at teammate Eli Manning.
Beckham also drew criticism throughout his first Giants tenure for various meltdowns and tantrums on the sidelines.
Since leaving the Giants in 2019, Beckham has punched an opposing cornerback in the head, earned a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, and needed to be escorted off an American Airlines flight for refusing to deplane.
Beckham is an excellent example not of wasted talent, but what happens when an athlete doesn’t think before they act.
Perhaps Beckham will make the most of his opportunity to advise players, some of whom were pre-teens when he made his iconic one-handed grab in 2014, on the importance of restraint and discipline.
Barring further injuries, Beckham will almost certainly come off the bench if he cracks the Week 1 roster. The Giants also signed Braxton Berrios and JuJu Smith-Schuster on Monday.
“Like most sequels, Beckham’s second act with the Giants will likely pale in comparison to the original,” Duggan wrote.
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