The football world is noticing. The New York Giants, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight for the past 12 years, are finally making all the right moves.
So, why would they want to bring back veteran wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., a move that would go against the momentum they’ve been building since hiring John Harbaugh as head coach in January?
There have been rumblings that the Giants were “close” to a deal with their 2014 first-round pick, who will turn 34 in November. OBJ has a relationship with Harbaugh, having played for him in Baltimore in 2023, so there’s one connection. Another is that the Giants may feel he could be a positive influence on their current No. 1 wideout, 22-year-old Malik Nabers.
If the Giants are interested in a reunion with the flashy Beckham, they’re playing the long game. For all we know, the Giants could have worked Beckham out as a courtesy to both him and Harbaugh, a tire-kicking exercise, so to speak.
“Yeah, no updates on that,” general manager Joe Schoen said last week during an appearance on The Insiders. “We worked him out a couple of weeks ago, you know, and he did a good job in terms of that.”
There’s been nothing but crickets since then. The Giants believe they have enough in their wide receiver room now to compete. Especially after trading up in the draft to select Notre Dame’s Malachi Fields.
The negatives outweigh the positives at this point. Beckham did not play in 2025 and played just nine games for the Miami Dolphins in 2024. He would have had to sit out the first six games of last season anyway, had he landed a job after a positive test for PEDs.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post writes that the Giants may not have the room for Beckham, even if he were the perfect fit. He’s not the player he once was, and there’s little need to add an expensive veteran backup at this time.
The Giants plan on being a run-heavy team under Harbaugh. There won’t be as many opportunities for wideouts as there were under Brian Daboll, and Nabers figures to get the lion’s share of those, anyway.
Plus, many of the targets in the passing game will be directed to the running backs and the tight ends, a unit the Giants invested heavily in with the free-agent signing of Isaiah Likely.
Bringing back OBJ would only serve to placate certain fans, and the Giants are only interested in one thing right now: To return to prominence. They are only making moves that will further that initiative. This move doesn’t seem to do that.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: A Giants-Odell Beckham Jr. reunion goes against their current plans
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
