Best of the Giants on WFAN: The return of Odell Beckham Jr.

**Evan** (0:00)
Tiki Barber, as one giant legend to another. Odell Beckham Jr. is back.

**Tiki Barber** (0:06)
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what he has left. Odell Beckham Jr. obviously signed yesterday, and they had a rash of free agent signings with Juju Smith Schuster and Braxton Barrios. Only played a handful of games last year for the Texans, but clearly this signals that something is amiss with Malik Nabers. We speculated about this a couple of weeks ago after we learned that he had that second procedure to clean up or fix or whatever you want to call it, his meniscus. He tore his ACL. That's a routine surgery. You fix it, it gets healthy, you'll be fine. The meniscus, and I referenced what happened to my son, Jaxson, he tore his ACL and meniscus in his freshman year at Brown. He never really got back. And no, he's not an elite athlete like Malik Nabers is, a pro bowler on his way to being one of the best in the NFL, but he struggled to get healthy from it. And based on a video that we all saw at the softball game, the Giants had, Malik Nabers didn't look like he was running anytime soon. No. And so the Giants, as they have done in multiple different positions this off season, are loading up at the wide receiver position just to give themselves options. They did it with D Tackle around free agency, and now they're doing it post June 1 with the wide receiving group. Look, what do I believe Odell Beckham Jr is going to be? I have no idea. I honestly haven't seen him play in a year plus. So I don't think anybody knows until they see him in a giant uniform.

**Evan** (1:36)
And I think the proper attitude to take is yesterday was interesting when the news broke. Shaun got emotional. Some giant fans were angry. Some giant fans were ecstatic. And the truth is, to quote a quarterback that I no longer like, R-E-L-A-X.
Because the most important news around the New York Giants, like the most relevant and important news, is Malik Nabers' knee. Yes. That's it. Is he healthy? When is he going to play? When he does play, how impactful is he? I made a comparison to you guys three months ago, and I don't think you liked the comparison, but I stand by that comp, and I think it makes a lot of sense.
Odell Beckham Jr. signing with the New York Giants is a non-roster invitee to MLB Spring Training. It's the same thing.

**Tiki Barber** (2:23)
I know. It sounds harsh, but it really is, Evan.

**Evan** (2:25)
It's harsh, but it's true.
For example, I'll give you a crazy example. It's extreme, but I want to put it in perspective. The New York Mets say, you know what? We need a third baseman. Hey, David Wright, you still have something left, didn't you? We're going to invite you to Spring Training. Now, the emotion would be, oh, my God, it's David Wright. I can't believe it. This is crazy. But the truth is, he's going to Spring Training to see if he has anything left. And if he does have something left, maybe he can contribute to the roster.

**Tiki Barber** (2:50)
And that's exactly what Odell is.

**Evan** (2:51)
That's Odell Beckham Jr. So I heard a lot of discourse over the last 24 hours, some of which is, you think he's the same guy as a decade ago?
If you think he's the same guy as a decade ago, you're on some crazy juice. He doesn't have to be either, though. This is not about recreating the magic of 10 years ago. It's about, hey, they need to throw bodies. You laid it out. They need to throw bodies at what's potentially a problem situation because of the injury to Malik Nabers. Odell Beckham Jr. happens to be a veteran on the street who has a tie to the New York Giants, who a lot of people have an affiliation with and great memories of, who's going to be one of the potential solutions. So statistically, is he going to have a big year in 2026 even if he makes the team? No. There's no evidence that he will. But here's the good news, he doesn't have to.

**Tiki Barber** (3:36)
Well, he doesn't have to unless he needs to because Malik Nabers is unreliable or unhealthy.

**Evan** (3:41)
To the Giants are in trouble.

**Tiki Barber** (3:42)
But you're right and you're also not factoring in the fact, he did not play last year. I obviously didn't see him play last year because he didn't play last year. The year before that, he had 55 yards receiving for the Miami Dolphins, which was a lost campaign for him down there. He hasn't had a thousand yard season since 2019 when he was with the Cleveland Browns. That was the year or two years after he left. No, that was the year after he left the New York Giants. He left the Giants, we were all high on him still. We thought he was headed towards having a Hall of Fame career. He had a thousand yard season with the Browns and then fell off the cliff. Now he was great with the Rams until he got hurt.