February 13, 2022. That was the last time we saw Odell Beckham Jr. playing an NFL game. It was on Super Bowl LVI when he (and the Los Angeles Rams) won the trophy. However, in that very game, he tore his ACL and missed the entire next season. Nearly 20 months after his last regular season game, OBJ says he is “excited” to return.
“The whole thing feels like a reset for me,” Beckham said on Wednesday. “There’s been a lot of like déjà vu moments of little things happened. It just kind of feels reminiscent of my rookie year in a sense — just the feeling of the excitement that I have to play football and just a new opportunity, a new life. So I don’t know what to expect, but I’m excited.”
This weekend, Beckham will return to an NFL field, this time in Baltimore as a member of the Ravens. It’s like the first day of school all over again for the 30-year-old. He will play on Sunday, against the Houston Texans in Week 1.
“I feel good,” he said. “It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point. I know who I am. It’s just time to let your hair down and have fun. I’m not giving out any numbers or expectations. I just feel good and ready to play football again.”
Odell Beckham Jr.
Drafted in the first round of the 2014 Draft, by the New York Giants, coming from LSU, with the no. 12 overall pick, OBJ quickly rose as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. With great routes, amazing catches and unbelievable touchdowns, he also became a popstar in the league.
But after five years in New York, he moved to Cleveland, to play for the Browns alongside his old college teammate and also star WR, Jarvis Landry. His two-and-a-half seasons there were not as good as his time in NY, so he was traded away in the middle of the 2021 season to the Los Angeles Rams. In LA he won the Super Bowl LVI that year.
After missing the entire 2022 season due to a torn ACL in the mentioned Super Bowl game, he is ready to get back to the field. So far in his career, he has played 96 games in eight seasons. He totals 531 catches in 883 targets, 7,367 yards and 56 touchdowns. By far, his most iconic play is the TD catch versus the Cowboys, in 2014, his rookie season.
