Beckham’s Back Baby, Buckle Up
Odell Beckham Jr is back in blue. He never should have left. Ancient Babylonian curses upon David Gettleman.
Beckham completes the unlikely comeback story and makes the 53-man roster in his original home. One of the big “what if he never got hurt” guys in recent NFL history comes back to where it all started. He was on pace to be one of the greats before he started suffering major injuries to his legs. After the trade to Cleveland didn’t work out he spent the next several years bouncing around the league as a mercenary bit player, picking up a Super Bowl ring in the process. Now he comes home. I’m not gonna lie, I love it. I’m so happy to see him again.
Beckham got drafted onto a declining franchise before everything really fell apart and he was the brightest spot of those mid-to-late 2010s Giants teams that didn’t have much to brag about. He was fun, he was talented, he was divisive. His antics would cause drama and that was often too much for the grumpy uncs of the fanbase.
While some of his conduct was detrimental to the team (The Josh Norman fight game comes to mind), most of it was harmless fun and the result of being a personality on a major market in a league that was at the peak of crackdowns on celebrations. Beckham was never out there beating women or driving drunk. The only real criticism I can level at his early years was that he could have been more aware of how he was viewed and taken better care to not stir up too much, but his antics were mostly goofs that pissed off the type of person who thinks the ideal football player acts like Barry Sanders after every play.
The kicking-the-net thing still pisses me off for how he was treated for it. He got frustrated after a play, slapped an inanimate object which hit him back on recoil, and this resulted in him being portrayed as this vile toxic locker room cancer by a ton of people. Dudes get frustrated all the time, slap things, throw tablets, but Beckham obtained “a reputation”. It was all bullshit. Beckham ruled. Him proposing to the kicking net later that season remains one of the best “leaning into the bit” responses I’ve seen out of a player. Fuck the haters. He’s also not like this anymore.
I’ve seen analysts and stat types criticising the move and they can also go hump a spreadsheet. “Wow, they are actually going to keep him? Lol Giants”. He played well enough in camp and pre-season to justify a spot, and it’s not like the Giants had a bunch of stars getting bumped for his homecoming. He’s #5 on the depth chart. He’s going to be a bit player. He’s a good locker room presence and his veteran knowledge should be a boon to Dart and the young guys.
The Giants had 3 obvious WR spots filled with Nabers, Mooney, and rookie Malachi Fields. The other 2 were up for grabs between Slayton, Hyatt, Beckham, Hodgins, Braxton Berrios, Dalen Cambre, Xavier Gipson, and Calvin Austin III. Austin tore his knee up so he was out. Gipson is a nobody. Hodgins hasn’t made an active roster since his brief 2022 run with the Giants. Jalin Hyatt is a fucking trash can who should have been cut years ago. It was really between Berrios and Cambre (who are mostly special teams assets), Slayton (who I love but is unreliable), and Beckham. All Beckham has to do is stay healthy (big if!) and catch more passes than Hyatt. Slayton earned the last spot. Hyatt, Berrios, and Cambre are on the practice squad now and will get elevated should someone get hurt. You want me to think the Giants are stupid for initially keeping Beckham over those guys? Why? On paper this is a pretty decent WR corps.
I do not expect much of Beckham this year. It would be stupid to. If he grabs a couple TDs and like, 400 yards, that’s perfectly fine for a rotational wideout. But I am so happy to see my boy back in blue, rightfully taking his #13 back from that waste of space Hyatt. This is probably his last rodeo, and he seems motivated to go out as best he can. I hope he does. He never should have been sent away. He’s one of the few players we can be proud of and celebrate over the past decade and since this is probably a rebuild year with low expectations, I’m happy to give him a spot. It’s lovely to see you again, Odell.
I’ve always loved me some OBJ, so I’m likewise pretty jazzed about this move.
What’s that, Lassie? OBJ went on public tv once to laugh at his own QB? And then he was too scared to do it again in Cleveland, so he had his own father tear his second QB apart there? No, Lassie, we don’t talk about those times. He was just a fun-loving guy with a kicking net who never did anything wrong. He certainly never did anything like snort cocaine off hookers who were slapping his ass with pizza slices or take his fellow WRs out on a boat trip right before a playoff game in which every one of those m@#rf@#%rs dropped so many goddamn footballs.
But seriously… I don’t feel anything about this move. He’s clearly matured, so I forgive him for many of his antics, but DAVE. How can you just casually ignore the fact that he directed two smear campaigns against his own QBs?!?! C’MON. Warranted or not, that was some bullshit behavior, and I stand by not wanting him in a locker room. It was the right move at the time (signing him to the megadeal before hand was the stupid part), and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
But yea, he seems past those days, so I’m not opposed to him being on the roster. I’d bet $1k he doesn’t last the season without an injury , which was always my biggest gripe against him.
Aren’t those antics par for the course for top WRs? Good on you for staying vigilant against doucey behavior; but I think we are seeing a pattern that many guys who play that position at that level could have their own diagnosis in the DSM-5. As a culture we are kind of at the point where we look past that, pity them, and hope they get help. Let’s go OBJ! I hope you’ve matured into a decent person and have a few more highlight plays left.
Sadly, yes, you are correct. I’ve been spoiled over the years by Giants WRs who were quiet dudes that kept their heads down and just did their jobs with very little praise for it. Phil McConkey, Joe Jurevicius, Amani Toomer, Hakeem Nicks. I loved those guys. Loud brash, emotional diva WRs are just not my thing.
Don’t forget the Diddy rumors.
The best we can hope for is maybe providing some veteran presence but then again, it’s OBJ.
Don’t forget… he is yet another ex-Raven that Harbaugh has ported over to NY
Yoooo I forgot about that
Between this, the Seahawks winning the SB and Aaron Donald back with the Rams, it feels like I’ve stumbled into a time machine.
Hopefully add in 2007-08 postseason moment in the near future as well, even if it happens after this decade ends.
If only obj got 13 back when he rejoined NY
He did
Oh I’m dumb then
I love having him back and seeing Hyatt not be on the active roster, but I’d be remiss not to mention Beaver LEGEND Isaiah Hodgins not making the team. Besides Slayton, he was the only receiver in the competition to actually have recent production in a Giants uniform. Nabers Fields and Mooney were locks, but with Austin out I was so optimistic that they’d manage to bring Hodgins and OBJ both back.
Oh well, I’m sure the Giant’s woeful fate will consume one of the starters at some point of the season and they’ll bring him back for a random 4rec 70yd game later in the year.
“After the trade to Cleveland didn’t work out”, is the 3rd absolute certainty. Death, taxes, and trades not working out for the Cleveland Browns.
I’m a Jags fan throughout, but annually I select an NFC team to root for just to have something else to watch but with my heart divorced of the drama. Pure voyeurism no commitment. Last year was the G-Men because their young talent was too much to ignore. That hasn’t changed and now they add a comeback story potential for one of the NFL’s at one time most famous players?! Get me some popcorn and dark blue face paint. Let the season begin!
Oh, the irony of you saying that analysts and stat types can go “hump a spreadsheet” one minute and following it almost immediately by saying it’s a pretty good WR corps “on paper”.
Different arguments man. They are using Odell’s individual numbers etc as an argument against the Giants keeping him judging him from an individual basis, but I was looking at him in context with the other WRs, where he fits just fine and is on par or better than the other options the Giants had to pick from. My main beef with the stat nerds is that they weren’t looking at him in context of the circumstances and surrounding factors, which is something stat nerds tend to do a lot imo.