Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- A veteran NFL team used a rare financial strategy to protect itself while adding a high-profile wide receiver this offseason.
- The move involved multiple pre-existing injury clauses that shift financial risk away from the team should certain body parts get re-injured.
- This approach balances the star power and attention the player brings with a clear safety net for the franchise's cap and planning.
The New York Giants truly embraced the low-risk, high-reward approach to reuniting with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Earlier in June, the team signed its 2014 first-round draft pick for a second stint to bolster the depth in the wide receiver room.
Fans were excited for the reunion, but pundits rightly questioned whether Beckham would be worth any potential injury absences that could emerge. OBJ suffered multiple injuries over the last handful of seasons, but New York seems to have thought well ahead about them when putting a contract together.
According to The Athletic's Dan Duggan, the Giants got Beckham to agree to three injury waivers that would protect the team from having to pay him should he re-injure specific areas of his body that have caused him to miss time in the past. It was a genius move from general manager Joe Schoen that acts as an insurance policy.
What are injury waivers? Giants run little risk keeping OBJ on roster beyond training camp
An injury waiver is a rare clause to see in a player's contract. According to Duggan, it's essentially an admission by the player that they wouldn't pass a physical without the waiver due to a pre-existing condition. In Beckham's case, those conditions would be his left knee, left ankle and bilateral pelvis (groin and hips).
New York would be off the hook financially should Beckham injure any of those specific areas and be unable to play. The 33-year-old agreeing to three waivers, when one is rare enough, demonstrates his desire to play only for the Giants (and probably how limited his options were elsewhere on the market).
The team also gets to capitalize on the attention boon OBJ brings back to MetLife Stadium. He signed for just $1.3 million, which is a drop in the bucket for New York. But if he manages to stay healthy and produce at a WR3 level, he'll be well worth the investment.
Beckham hasn't played a full campaign since he was traded to the Cleveland Browns back in 2019. That was, coincidentally, the last time he recorded a 1,000-yard season. Expectations will need to be tempered in New York, which is probably why Schoen included the injury waivers in the first place.
It was a smart financial safety net for the team and given how cheap OBJ signed on for, if he loses a few hundred thousand dollars from injuries he's been trying to escape for years it won't be the end of the world. He'll at least have gotten the opportunity to end his career on his own terms rather than fading into obscurity.
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