Former Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was considering hanging up his football pads after suffering a significant knee injury in 2021 when the Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI.
He told The Athletic he’s approaching this season “thinking like this is my last year.”
Beckham hurt his left knee in the second quarter during the Super Bowl victory at SoFi Stadium while trying to make a catch.
He had only been a year removed from an ACL tear in the same knee that occurred in a game while he was still with the Browns.
Days after the Super Bowl win with the emotions still fresh, and a day after his girlfriend Lauren Wood gave birth to a boy, Beckham had surgery to repair his ACL and meniscus.
The rehab, as Beckham recalled, took its toll on his mental and emotional state as he wasn’t able to help care for his newborn son.
Beckham, 30, relied on his mother to take care of him.
“I couldn’t hold him, cradle him or love on him the way I wanted to,” he said. “It was a lot. It was hard.”
At that time the star receiver, best known for his memorable catch with the Giants in 2014, thought his career could be coming to an end.
“I went through a lot the last couple of years, and I thought it was over,” Beckham said. “I didn’t want to get back up on the horse and do the same song and dance all over again.”
Eventually, the receiver began to turn a corner reengaging himself with the Rams, but it became clear he wouldn’t be returning to Los Angeles due to cap limitations with the defending champs.
Beckham ended up sitting out the 2022 season despite interest from the Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.
Teams remained interested in courting him, with the Jets joining the fray in the spring.
Beckham eventually signed with the Baltimore Ravens on a one-year deal after they made a strong pitch for his services during the owner’s meetings in Arizona, with Ravens owner Stephen Bisciotti and quarterback Lamar Jackson involving themselves in the negotiations as well.
But Baltimore wasn’t the top choice for the veteran.
“If I’m honest, I was resistant,” Beckham said about signing with the Ravens. “There were other places I wanted to go. I wasn’t necessarily a Ravens fan because the Ravens always whipped my ass.”
Beckham will be part of a Ravens team that is expected to be a title contender and boasts one of the NFL’s top QB’s in Jackson.
The star receiver is headed into the year focused on playing at his best in what could end up being his last season.
“I’m thinking like this is my last year,” Beckham said. “I’m going to give it my all this year. And then if something happens after that, we can go from there.”
