Any time wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. mentions the New York Giants, the entire internet burns down. And that’s precisely what happened on Thursday night.
Buy Giants TicketsBring him home. #TogetherBlue pic.twitter.com/VBtun8WNDw
— Giants Today (@NYGToday) August 25, 2022
Responding to an Instagram comment that read, “Come back to New York. We need you ASAP,” Beckham appeared to leave the door open.
“We’ll see. I do miss my damn squad,” Beckham wrote. “Wanted to win a ring for that city.”
— Prince Amukamara (@PrinceAmukamara) August 25, 2022
But that’s not how things went. Beckham’s behavior began to wear thin in New York and his bizarre interview with Josina Anderson and Lil Wayne on ESPN tipped the scales. He appeared to place blame for the Giants’ offensive struggles on quarterback Eli Manning, and suggested the team’s coaches were being out-schemed.
Five months later, the Giants traded Beckham to the Cleveland Browns in a blockbuster deal that is still discussed and debated to this day.
Since then, Beckham has softened his tone a bit and publicly praised Manning. He also remains in touch with Giants co-owner John Mara, but has followed his own path. He essentially forced his way out of Cleveland last season, landing with the Los Angeles Rams en route to a Super Bowl title.
Unfortunately for Beckham, that came with a downside. He suffered a torn ACL midway through that game against the Cincinnati Bengals and is not expected to return until later this season.
Still, there are lines that can be drawn. As Beckham matures, he seems to look back more fondly on his days in blue. And for the Giants themselves, they have issues at wide receiver and could use some more firepower. But at what cost? They have precious little cap space and even coming off injury, OBJ is likely to command a pretty penny.
There’s also the reality that the Giants aren’t Super Bowl contenders. They’re a rebuilding team with a thin roster, which likely isn’t something Beckham wants to be a part of.
But who really knows. Stranger things have happened and in the words of former Giants general manager Jerry Reese, “never say never.”
