Here’s the new reality for Odell Beckham Jr.: John Harbaugh believes that he can make a 53-man roster.
Harbaugh’s vote of confidence reveals the strange truth that — for the first time since he entered the NFL as the Giants’ first-round pick in 2014 — Beckham would be fighting for a roster spot in training camp if he returned to New York as a free agent.
Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton, Darnell Mooney and rookie Malachi Fields essentially are locked in as receivers.
“Odell wants to be the kind of player that can make a difference,” Harbaugh said
“I’m pretty sure that he could make a team in the NFL right now. But can he make a difference? Is it something he wants to do? Is his body going to hold up the way he wants it to? All those things are questions that need to get answered for anybody at that age.”
Beckham didn’t play last season and served a six-game suspension for violating the league’s PEDs policy. He and Harbaugh have a strong relationship from their season together with the 2023 Ravens.
Harbaugh said that he and Beckham have talked three or four times in the last week.
Beckham impressed the Giants during a two-day visit (April 20-21) to the facility that included a physical and then returned to his offseason home in Arizona.
“The goal for right now is for him to train to be as great as he can be and then we’ll see where we are at that time,” Harbaugh said.
“The conversation that we had — such an honest conversation — is it has to be right for both parties.”
Beckham has had two ACL tears, an ankle fracture and a long history of soft-tissue injuries in the years since he was a phenom with the most-productive three-year start by any receiver in NFL history at that point. He has been cut twice — by the Browns in 2021 and Dolphins in 2024) — but at his own doing.
“You know Odell: He’s confident, man,” Harbaugh said. “He’s working hard and he believes in himself. We’ll play it out over the next month and into training camp to see where we’re at.”
