USA TODAY International Edition
Beginning a new chapter
Beckham makes one- handed catch in Jersey
EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J. – Odell Beckham Jr. had just finished warming up in the MetLife Stadium end zone – the same one in which he put on those one- handed catching shows for five years with the Giants – when he greeted his mother, Heather Van Norman, with a big embrace.
A young fan standing nearby got Beckham’s attention, extended his note pad and offered a simple request for the Browns’ star wide receiver.
“Odell! Odell! Can I have your autograph?” he said.
“You a Jets fan, or who?” Beckham replied.
The answer gave the 26- year- old, pen in hand, pause.
“Giants.”
“Oh.”
Beckham gave the boy his signature, and in exchange he received a greeting that set the tone for the night as his Browns looked to get a much- needed victory on “Monday Night Football” against the Jets.
“Welcome back.”
Welcome back indeed.
With a flair for the dramatic, of course, Beckham unsurprisingly stood out in his return to New Jersey and did so with something awfully familiar. Call it The Catch revisited.
At MetLife Stadium. In the same spot as the one- handed reception back in prime time during the 2014 season against the Cowboys that helped make him famous.
“I swear, it was deja vu,” he said. This time, the Browns’ star wide receiver and former Giants Pro Bowler made a spectacular one- handed grab on a 33- yarder from Baker Mayfield in the first quarter that wowed the crowd.
Then Beckham put the game away with an exclamation point about 90 minutes later. His 89- yard catch- andrun to the house for a touchdown on which he outran several Jets defenders punctuated the evening en route to a 23- 3 victory.
“I heard he wasn’t the most dynamic playmaker in the NFL,” Browns receiver Jarvis Landry said of Beckham, his close friend, in an obvious swipe at Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. “We got a chance to see that tonight.”
For all of the talk of watches worth thousands of dollars and his customized Browns’ Bentley, Beckham took to the field against the Jets and reminded everyone of just how good he can be between the lines, breaking a slumbering game wide open in a flash.
He finished with six catches for 161 yards and the score, his highest yardage total since 2016 when he set a career high with 222 yards when the Giants beat the Ravens.
Beckham never wanted to leave the New York City area – he has the skyline tattooed on his back – but his time with the Giants became a star- crossed cautionary tale about what happens when an uber- talented player driven by a competitive ego and a thirst for winning, celebrity and the spotlight attempts to co- exist within a franchise with a rich tradition, only to be mired in mediocrity.
Sooner or later, despite the $ 95 million contract extension that on face value was supposed to marry player and team for the next five years, Beckham’s stay with the Giants was likely going to come to a head at some point if the losing continued.
The Giants were leery Beckham would let his frustration with Eli Manning and another year of losing get in the way of the big picture. He was panned as a selfish player who’d never won anything, because, you know, wide receivers should be judged like quarterbacks in terms of wins and losses.
So the Giants made a choice: Embrace the anticipated drama- free life without Beckham by moving forward back in March without one of the NFL’s most dynamic players. In a stunning deal with the Browns in which they got in return a first- round pick ( Dexter Lawrence), a third- round pick ( Oshane Ximines) and safety Jabrill Peppers, the Giants parted ways with a playmaker in his prime.
There’s no question managing Beckham’s personality is a challenge, and the beginning of the end of Beckham’s tenure with the Giants was the interview he did on ESPN with Lil Wayne seated beside him last September. Everything changed between Giants coach Pat Shurmur and Beckham then, even if neither allowed the divide to surface publicly.
The Josh Norman tussle. The kicking net. The emotional outbursts on the sideline.
Beckham’s gone, and with him went another player whose problems of an entire organization were blamed in some circles. Was he complicit in that? You bet.
The Giants took another step toward a new future without him, but so far, they’re stuck in the same place: 0- 2 for the sixth time in seven seasons. Beckham caught seven passes for 71 yards in his Browns’ debut, but Cleveland lost to Tennessee.
Call Beckham selfish. Call him a diva if you must. There have been circumstances to both refute and support those assertions so far in his career. But there’s no denying the talent. The production is there, too, considering Beckham extended his streak of having at least three catches in 59 consecutive games, the third longest in NFL history.
The Browns faced a must- win against the Jets, as any Week 2 game will ever be, and undeniably Beckham was at the center of seemingly whatever transpired.
After he made that memorable catch in the first quarter, Beckham was sent off by the officials to the sideline to change the visor on his helmet, which appeared to have too much tint, violating league rules. He also went into the locker room with a member of the training staff in the waning moments of the first half as the Browns lined up for a field goal, presumably for an IV to deal with hydration issues.
His back- and- forth with Williams, who had run- ins with Beckham in previous defensive coordinator stints in St. Louis and Cleveland, garnered plenty of attention all week, and without question all eyes were on No. 13 again – just as they always are.
Asked if he harbored any animosity for the Giants and how his tenure ended, Beckham said: “No animosity. No hate. I’m full of love, so I wish everybody over there nothing but the best. I have brothers over there. I want to see them succeed. Nothing but the best for them. They made a decision, we parted ways and that’s just it.”
This was Odell Beckham Jr.’ s chance to write a new chapter in his story, and it’s fitting that the opportunity came under the bright lights and in the building he once called home.
“To be honest, I’m just focused on where I’m going now,” Beckham said. “God has really done a lot for me in my life, especially recently in the past six months, so just kinda moving forward, it was just like closing a chapter today. It really was, it was special to come here.”
When it was over, Beckham got on the flight back to Cleveland with the rest of his team having secured the one thing – the only thing? – that could ultimately cement his legacy: a victory.