I remember back in 2014 when a young player by the name of Odell Beckham Jr came onto the scene. Although he missed the first few games of his rookie season, he wasted no time when he finally got the chance to play, he wowed us and didn’t disappoint. How could any of us forget the three-fingered catch he made against the Dallas Cowboys? Since then, he’s made many of those catches for a living and has given us a show. Throughout the off-season and heading into training camp, the reports circulated about his contract and how he was nearing the end of his rookie deal. Today, the New York Giants have made Odell the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL and he’s locked into a deal for five years and $95 million and will receive the highest guarantee for a receiver with $65 million and will average $20 million in the first three seasons of the new deal.
Since he’s entered the league, he’s become one of the most exciting players to watch in the National Football League and has the game-changing ability to shake up the dynamic of a football game. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the top three or four wide receivers in the game. He has a tantalizing combination of speed, consistent route running, the leaping ability to jump out of the stadium and win every jump-ball situation and he catches everything that Eli Manning throws to him. He can line up wide and in the slot and no matter where he is, he possesses the speed to break away, get open and he’s a true threat to score at any time no matter where the ball is set. He’s been so good that he can make the best cornerbacks in the NFL heads spin. He’s a human highlight reel and does things on the field that’ll have you talking and asking, “did he really do that”? Or “how did he do that”? He makes one-handed catches as if he were a baseball player and it doesn’t matter the hand, he’ll hold onto it. He displays excellent body control to keep his feet within him and stay in bounds and he also displays phenomenal quickness and craftiness and what I mean by this is how he is when he runs his routes, how smoothly he runs to get in and out of his breaks. He can run his route, fake as if he’s about to go one way, cut up the field and he’s wide open up the field and the ball is in his hands. It truly doesn’t make a difference where he’s lined up on the field because he’s so effective in more ways than one. You can try to jam him at the line of scrimmage, but he’s tough enough to handle the physicality and playing a zone on him is almost like playing a zone on Steph Curry on the basketball court, any type of space you give Odell, he’s working with it and a zone scheme is just asking for you to allow him to run by you. He’s also dangerous in open space with how he blows by defenders with the ball in his hands and he can also stiff arm people.
He’s a three-time pro-bowler that’s caught 313 passes for 4,424 yards and 38 touchdowns over a four-year span. We also saw just how much he means to the Giants offense last season as he started the year on the sidelines because of injuries and in the first two games he missed, the Giants only scored 13 points altogether. When he comes back, they score over 20 in their third game. With him in the lineup, the Giants have one of the better passing attacks in the NFL. He’s just entering the prime of his career and now, he’s got his contract extension that he’s definitely earned.
