It has been a long road back for Odell Beckham Jr. The star wide receiver didn’t play a snap during the 2022 season, working his way back from an ACL tear that he suffered during Super Bowl LVI while playing for the Los Angeles Rams.
Odell Beckham Jr. attempted to sign with a team near the end of the season, but nothing came to fruition. He had a wait a while during free agency this year as well before the Baltimore Ravens swooped in with a deal. The two sides agreed to a one-year contract that can pay Odell Beckham Jr. as much as $18 million.
That offer blew away anything else that was on the table as he joined a revamped wide receiver group in Baltimore. With mandatory minicamp getting underway for the Ravens, this is the first time that Odell Beckham Jr. will be back on the field since he tore his ACL.
While he is not putting a percentage on how his knee feels, Odell Beckham Jr. is happy with the progress that has been made. In a press conference this week, he revealed just how much better he has been feeling.
“It feels good to be able to get out of bed and not feel pain,” Beckham said in his press conference. “It feels good to feel like if I needed to take off running right now, I could take off running. It’s been a long journey this time around and it was its own process, so I just had to take that for what it was.”
While things are heading in the right direction, there are still some questions about how involved Odell Beckham Jr. will be in the minicamp practices. Head coach John Harbaugh said there will be a ramp-up period at some point but his participation level is still unknown.
“I don’t have a set play amount or a number that’s in my head,” Beckham said. “I think it’s just, you come here you be a pro, you get your reps, get your work, you talk. You don’t always have to build chemistry, so to say, by taking reps. It could be a communication thing — how do you see it? And then, like I said, we’ll have a whole offseason — or after this camp breaks — to really get it going.”
The team will likely take things day by day, easing him back into the lineup after being sidelined for so long. There is still plenty of time to get Odell Beckham Jr. back up to game speed before the regular season kicks off. At this point, any progress is good progress for the former All-Pro.
