April 2, 2026, 12:01 p.m. ET
There’s been a lot of talk surrounding a possible reunion between veteran wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, the New York Giants.
Beckham is all for the idea, and there has been a groundswell of support for it. Beckham back in New York? The stories write themselves.
“Weird you said that; that sounds great,” Beckham told Kay Adams in March. “If that opportunity presents itself, I would love to do that. Be excited about that. He’s a good dude. He’s young, and he likes to dance. I like all that. So he looks like he likes to have fun. If I get that opportunity…”
While many have promoted the reunion, others have shot down the idea based on Beckham’s first tumultuous stint with the Giants (2014-18). Some believe the now 33-year-old Beckham, who is no longer the player he once was due to wear and age, has a lot to offer this young Giants’ offense.
Count former Giants great and current radio analyst Carl Banks as a supporter of bringing back Beckham, citing he’s a much more mature person now.
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“I don’t have a problem with his presence in the locker room,” Banks said. “He’s no longer the guy who magically sucks the oxygen out of the room. He’s, you know, he’s an established NFL player. I think the aura of Odell Beckham has kind of — we’ve all absorbed it, right? So he’s a pro now.”
Banks also believes Beckham would still “wow” at his age. More importantly, he believes OBJ would be an asset to Malik Nabers.
“He’s a pro’s pro. He’s gonna be — he’s gonna do things that will wow you even at his age, but he’s going to be a good teammate,” Banks said. “Like, he never was not a good teammate, but he was always the guy who had the aura that, you know, everything — he was the center of the earth, right?
“Everything gravitated towards him. If he said it, you know, how’s he feeling? He’s got his hood on, he’s got his hood off. That guy’s gone. You know, he still loves the game. You never — he’s never been outworked. He’s always been in shape. I only see him as an asset.
“I think he’s a stabilizing force, if you ask me, for someone like Malik Nabers, you know, who’s still super raw, super talented, just as emotional as a young Odell Beckham because he wants it so bad. The seasoned Odell Beckham can now calibrate a guy like Nabors.”
Beckham recently met with new Giants head coach John Harbaugh, whom he played under in Baltimore in 2023, which further sparked the rumors of a possible return.
“We’ve maintained a really great relationship,’’ Harbaugh said. “He’s one of my very favorite people in the world. So it’s not like you don’t talk to guys about things like that. And certainly we have.’’Beckham, who last played for Miami in 2024, did not play in the NFL last season. While he was shopping his services around the league, he was hit with a six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy in October, pretty much ending any chance of playing.
That’s over, now, and he is looking for his next act. The ball is in the Giants’ court.

