GM: Giants would be open to talking with OBJ

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants are at the very least open to potentially reuniting with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

Beckham popped into the Giants facility last month and met with some players (including close friends Sterling Shepard and Saquon Barkley) and staff that he knew from his previous time with the organization (2014-18). He didn’t meet with the general manager and coach and therefore it wasn’t an official visit.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the Giants wouldn’t have interest in signing Beckham when he gets healthy or for next season. Beckham is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in Super Bowl LVI.

“I had no idea he was in the building until he was out of the building,” general manager Joe Schoen said on Tuesday after the receiver-needy Giants did not make a move at the trade deadline. “Obviously he’s been a good player. He’s a guy we would consider and talk to, when he’s healthy. I think he did the ACL in February, so not sure really where he is physically.

“But yeah, any player that would upgrade the roster we’re going to consider and have conversations with their representatives.”

The Giants are currently 6-2 heading into their bye week.

Beckham, 29, was drafted by the Giants in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft out of LSU. He had a record-breaking start with three straight 1,300-yard seasons to begin his career. But things began to fall apart when he broke his leg in 2017.

The enigmatic receiver was traded to the Cleveland Browns before the 2019 season, months after signing a new long-term deal. But his anger at the time was directed mostly toward general manager Dave Gettleman, who is no longer with the franchise.

Beckham has toyed publicly on social media with the idea of a reuniting with the Giants.

“Ain’t nothing better than a family reunion!!” he tweeted last month as a response to Barkley.

Wide receiver just so happens to be a position the Giants could use reinforcements. Shepard is out for the season, Kenny Golladay has two catches for 22 yards and has missed the past four games and the oft-injured Kadarius Toney was traded to the Chiefs last week. Darius Slayton currently leads the Giants with 232 receiving yards through eight games.

Schoen said Tuesday he’s hoping the Giants get Golladay back to face the Houston Texans after their bye week. He has his “fingers crossed.”

Beckham showed last season with the Los Angeles Rams that he was still a high-end player, when healthy. He had 21 catches for 288 yards in the Rams’ playoff run and seemed destined to potentially be named the Super Bowl MVP before suffering his latest injury.

That has been the problem in recent years for Beckham. He needed core muscle surgery following the 2019 season, tore his left ACL in 2020 and did it again earlier this year.

Beckham is still rehabbing the injury, but a bigger impediment to the Giants adding him this season could be money. The Giants are tight against the salary cap and have been adamant about only doing veteran salary benefit (VSB) deals this season.

Beckham would likely be looking for the kind of incentive-based deal that can’t be done in VSBs. The Giants would have to make an exception.

“He’s a good player from what I evaluated, if he’s healthy,” Schoen said. “If a player is healthy and they would help us win football games, we will pursue them if they fit what we’re looking for.”

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