Key Takeaways
- Odell Beckham Jr. said the Giants “got me” and “won,” arguing that the team used his comeback for publicity without giving him a real opportunity to contribute.
- OBJ played only 20 offensive snaps across three games, drew one target and recorded zero catches before New York released him.
- The 33-year-old, who returned on a veteran-minimum deal after missing the 2025 season, said the brief reunion cost him a chance to make an impact elsewhere.
Odell Beckham Jr. spent months fighting his way back onto the New York Giants. Three games and zero catches later, he suggests the team used his comeback for publicity instead of giving him a real chance to play.
According to The Athletic, Beckham broke his silence following his release from New York by responding to an Instagram post criticizing how the Giants handled his return. The 33-year-old appeared to agree that the franchise got more out of the reunion than he did, writing, “They got me” and “they won.”
“I shoulda known better,” Beckham added.
The frustration isn't difficult to trace. Beckham accepted a veteran-minimum deal to return to the franchise that drafted him, competed throughout training camp without a guaranteed roster spot, and eventually survived final cuts.
Once the regular season began, however, his role essentially disappeared. OBJ played just 20 offensive snaps over three games, received one target, and finished his second Giants stint without a catch.
Beckham now believes those three games cost him an opportunity to contribute elsewhere.
“I coulda really been playing this year somewhere and making a impact,” he wrote.
It’s a jarring ending considering how hard Beckham had to work just to get this reunion started. After spending the entire 2025 season out of football, he worked out for the Giants twice before signing.
“Yes, he has done enough to make an NFL roster, for sure,” Harbaugh said in August. “He’s played well. He’s gotten better as camp’s gone along.”
Beckham had been equally clear about what making it back meant to him. “I earned the right to be here,” he said ahead of the Giants' regular-season opener. “I fought very hard.”
Then came the homecoming.
His first regular-season Giants game since 2018 arrived at MetLife Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys—the same opponent Beckham torched with the one-handed catch that made him a global star in 2014.
“Not too many people get a chance to have this kind of story written up,” Beckham said at the time. “I just want to take advantage of that.”
Instead, Beckham was barely part of the offense.
By the time former Super Bowl-winning coach Bruce Arians appeared on Up & Adams late last month, OBJ’s lack of playing time had become impossible to ignore. “Odell can’t get on the field with the Giants right now,” Arians said before delivering a brutal assessment: “I think the end is near.”
The next day, the Giants released him. Harbaugh acknowledged that New York wasn't getting enough production from the roster spot and hadn't found a way to get Beckham more involved.
