Odell Beckham returns to Giants camp fighting for a job

It's a strange sentence to write about a guy with 3 Pro Bowls and a highlight reel that helped define an era of Giants football, but here it is: Odell Beckham Jr. is currently the betting favorite to win a training camp roster battle for a depth receiver spot. Not a starting job. Not a featured role. The last spot on the depth chart, behind Malik Nabers, Darnell Mooney, Darius Slayton, Calvin Austin III and rookie Malachi Fields.

According to ESPN's Jordan Raanan, Beckham is the "leader in the clubhouse" in that battle, with JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios also in the mix. All 3 signed veteran-minimum deals this offseason, which tells you the Giants aren't handing anyone a spot based on name value alone.

The report tracks with what's been coming out of East Rutherford all offseason. Beckham reportedly looked rusty early in OTAs, but with Nabers and Slayton sitting out mandatory minicamp, he stepped up and started building chemistry with quarterback Jaxson Dart, giving the coaching staff a real look at what he can still do. That kind of opportunistic camp performance is exactly how depth-chart battles get decided in July.

The backstory is the part that makes this interesting. Beckham spent his first 5 NFL seasons in New York before the trade to Cleveland, then bounced through the Rams, Ravens and Dolphins, missing most of the last few years to injury and, more recently, a PED suspension. Miami released him in December 2024. He's 33 now, well past his 2018-level peak, and this 1-year, veteran-minimum deal with the Giants is about as far from a max contract as it gets.

The Giants reportedly built the deal with 3 separate injury waivers into it — for his left knee, the surgically repaired left ankle, and his pelvis — which is the front office's way of saying they like the idea of Beckham but aren't betting the roster on his body holding up. That's the tension defining this whole camp battle: talent and name recognition against health and reliability.

Nothing is decided yet. Berrios still has a path onto the roster purely as a return specialist if he shows out in preseason, and none of this locks in until the Giants start cutting down the roster in late August. But for a guy who once looked like a future Hall of Famer, just being the favorite to make a 53-man roster is its own kind of storyline — and fantasy managers weighing a late-round flier on him should keep an eye on how camp plays out before Week 1.