What version of Odell Beckham Jr. are the Giants getting? 'GMFB'
"Good Morning Football" checks in around the breakfast table to share their expectations of New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for this upcoming season.
Video Transcript
What version of Odell Beckham Jr. Are we getting with the Giants?
You know, yesterday is not a great day, right?
Thousands of players or so end up getting cut, dreams ended, players that thought they were gonna make the team end up not making the team.
And then today is sometimes not as good as well.
Players are on the fringe, they get told they make the team yesterday, then the team claims someone, and then they are cut anyway.
There's a lot of bad feeling about this day.
This is a good story.
Odell Beckham Jr., who I, I think a lot of people wondered, would he have anything left?
Would he even be on a roster in 2026, or why didn't he just hang it up?
He signs with the Giants.
They kind of take a flyer on him, a little late in the spring, say, "You know what?
We're just gonna, we're just gonna see what he's got left.
No harm, no foul.
Not a lot of money.
Just come into the building and see if he can rekindle some of that magic, or just be a good serviceable receiver who makes plays."
And he came into training camp.
Yes, he was helped a little bit by the Calvin Austin torn ACL.
That kind of created the roster spot a little bit.
But came into the, training camp, performed well, had a really, really good final two weeks of training camp, had a really good third preseason game, and earned the spot on the roster.
33 years old, they have no doubt that he can blend right into that room.
He can serve as an example for some of the young guys.
He has been through a lot, from superstar to injured, to not a superstar, to cast aside, to trying to hang on.
All the things one could do in an NFL career, that is where Odell is.
You know where he also is?
On the Giants' roster- and that is pretty cool.
It's pretty cool, Ian.
It's funny that Odell was catching a touchdown, in that Super Bowl that Aaron Donald eventually ended up winning for him.
It's all coming together today.
But we started the segment obviously with the Odell catch against the Cowboys, and Collinsworth ooh-ing and aah-ing, and that is really the most indelible image we'll ever have of Odell.
But I choose to look back at some of his other stops.
And now that he's back with the Giants, can we just We're not even gonna show Giants clips.
Never mind all that.
Let's go into his journey, though, and remember how we got here.
Do you remember Odell on the Browns?
This is really something that happened, and it was massive, massive news at the time.
2019, he is traded to the Cleveland Browns with Olivier Vernon for a first-round pick, a first-round pick that the Giants turned into Dexter Lawrence, also a third-round pick and a couple players.
Odell played 29 games with the Browns.
He had 114 catches, 17 touchdowns, before eventually getting hurt.
He was not great with Baker, especially at the end.
It was Odell and Jarvis Landry, these LSU guys who were buddies, and then eventually it got to the point where Odell's dad was posting a video of plays in which Mayfield was missing his son.
It was ugly.
Even LeBron was tweeting in OBJ's defense.
Eventually, they get rid of him.
He's no longer with the Cleveland Browns.
He was waived and released by the Browns November 2021.
Then he's signed by the Rams two days later.
Rams in the news again.
And this really worked.
He had purple hair, and it clicked, and the chemistry was great.
He played the final eight games of the 2021 regular season.
He had five touchdowns in eight games.
McVay loved him.
Stafford loved him.
21 catches, 208 yards, two receptions in the playoffs alone.
And then here's the biggest deal of all.
This is the apex for Odell.
It's not the catch against the Cowboys, it's the damn Super Bowl, guys.
Odell was really good.
He caught a touchdown on the far end zone and hit the Michael Jackson dance.
It was an incredible thing.
Here it is.
This is in the damn Super Bowl.
He gets up, does the Michael Jackson dance in cleats, and it was like, "Oh my God, Odell's having a moment."
In fact, Jalen Ramsey, his teammate on the Rams, said he thought Odell would go on to be MVP 'cause he was heavily game planned against the Bengals defense.
Unfortunately, he tears his ACL in the Super Bowl, and it was really sad, even though the Rams went on to win.
So then 2022, he is out.
He becomes a free agent.
The Rams do not re-sign him.
He sits out for the entire 2022 season.
The only news Odell was making was really weird.
Do you remember the time he was removed from an Air, American Airlines flight after he was reportedly unresponsive and refusing to buckle his seatbelt?
And we're like, "Oh, no, Odell, you're going someplace we can't follow.
Is that the end?"
No.
2023, he signs with the Baltimore Ravens with his now coach, John Harbaugh.
Odell was a Raven, wearing number three in purple.
He played 14 games.
He scored three times.
He was modest by his own standards, and then he was released March of 2024.
Mostly drama-free there during his time, but he had $15 million for one year, and he did not live up to it.
So the next year, is he done?
Hell no.
He's going to the Dolphins.
The Dolphins were extremely hot at the time, 'cause Mike McDaniel's offense, Tyreek, Jaylen Waddle, and Odell f- feels like this is a great spot for him.
He doesn't have to be a superstar.
One-year deal.
He played in nine games and had nine catches.
It just wasn't a thing.
It wasn't working.
It felt like the end, and this is about the time you're like, "All right.
Are we gonna get the Odell Beckham podcast, and do we wanna listen to it on iHeart or Wondery," whatever it is.
Released in December after a mutual agreement, that mutual agreement being this just wasn't the thing.
2025, is out of the league, and we think that's probably it.
And then he shows up back with the Giants, and I remember us first talking about it on the show.
We're like, "Oh, this is kinda fun.
This is kinda cool.
He's not gonna make the team, right?"
He made the damn team.
This was not a novelty.
This was not some sort of thing where we're trying to sell tickets.
He is on the team.
He will be playing.
He's a viable wide receiver.
He looked good enough in preseason, and he's back with his coach from the Ravens.
Even though it didn't really work out with the Ravens, John Harbaugh said, "We still want you on."
And now he is back with the Giants, not showing up to wave to the crowd, or one time out there on third and 10, and, "Odell, we gotta move the chains."
It's cool.
I'm rooting for him.
You think after some of those stops, it's never gonna get back on the rails.
It is, and it's back where the train started.
