In a move that won’t come as much of a surprise, the New York Giants have officially ruled out first round pick and former LSU star receiver Odell Beckham for the regular season opener against the Detroit Lions.
More from New York Giants
- Raiders: Saquon Barkley’s new contract may have screwed over Josh Jacobs
- 3 reasons the NY Giants won Saquon Barkley contract negotiations
- Saquon Barkley’s new contract is an L for NFL running backs: Best memes and tweets
- Austin Ekeler leading RB revolt with Zoom meeting of biggest names
- Giants newest WR addition feels like spray-and-pray tactic
Beckham did not play in any preseason game for the Giants after they selected him with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft after suffering a hamstring injury in the early days of the team’s training camp in late-July.
The Giants reportedly do not anticipate Beckham returning to the field for three weeks as he gets healthy and up to game speed and comfortable in the new Giants offense.
Beckham won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player after catching 57 passes for 1,187 yards and eight touchdowns while returning 14 punts for 141 yards and 30 kicks for 806 yards, which led the SEC. He also returned a missed field goal for a touchdown.
The Giants are unveiling a new offense this season and were counting on Beckham playing a big part opposite Victor Cruz and catching a number of passes from quarterback Eli Manning, but after missing training camp, four preseason games and regular season action, his expectations for his rookie season have been diminished.
Missing that many valuable repetitions in practice and in exhibition games will make it extremely difficult for him to learn the offense and establish a rapport and timing with Manning on the fly during the regular season, but when he is healthy, the Giants will have no choice but to throw him out there and see what he can do.