John Harbaugh is a head coach not a general manager, but he clearly has some say in roster-building. That's the best explanation for some personnel moves the Giants are making, which echo stuff that went on while he was coaching the Ravens.
Baltimore had a tendency to bring in journeymen veteran wideouts, guys like DeSean Jackson, Sammy Watkins, Nelson Agholor (it's really a pretty long list) and...Odell Beckham. Very few of these guys worked out, with most of them either dealing with injuries or simply having already played their best football, but it didn't stop the signings.
It was hard not to think of those last week when the Giants on the same day signed Odell Beckham and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Two more veterans who played their best football some years in the past, but have now entered the mix in New York for the Giants to find out if they have much (anything) left.
(The Giants also signed Braxton Berrios, but I view that as entirely a special teams move; he should return kicks after the team lost Gunner Olszewski to an Achilles injury last week.)
JuJu seems like a slightly better bet. He's 29, and without a significant injury history. He actually appeared in 31 games for Kansas City the last two years, albeit with very modest production (a total of 51 catches and 3 TDs in those games). Since New York doesn't have a lot of sure things at the position behind Malik Nabers (who's coming off a torn ACL), maybe Smith-Schuster actually carves out a role. Put it this way, he's not a dramatically worse bet than all the other modest veterans on New York's roster: Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin, Darius Slayton.
With Beckham, well, that one is a little harder to fathom. What are the actual chances the guy has anything left?
The guy known as OBJ tore his ACL in the Super Bowl with the Rams, after the 2021 season. His next contract was with Harbaugh's Ravens, go figure, who he actually suited up for 14 games with in 2023. But in 2024 and 2025 there were more injuries and a suspension, and Beckham appeared in a total of 9 games (with Miami) and caught 9 passes. In two seasons.
It was 2019, with Cleveland, when Beckham last put up significant numbers: 74 catches, 1,035 yards and 4 touchdowns. Looking at what he did after that and before his past two lost seasons, so 2020-2023, there's not a whole lot to justify giving him a contract.
Table shows per-game numbers for starting wide receivers who played at least half the time between 2020 and 2023. There's Beckham down near the bottom, and I notice he's joined by several other current Giants: JuJu, Mooney, Slayton. There are a few current (Bateman) and former (Demarcus) Ravens, too. Couple of other guys down there are looking for work, so there's still time for Harbaugh and company to offer them contracts, too.
| WIDE RECEIVERS PER GAME, 2020-2023 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Tyreek Hill | 64 | 6.8 | 94.1 | .73 | 21.0 |
| Davante Adams | 64 | 6.9 | 87.3 | .80 | 20.4 |
| Justin Jefferson | 60 | 6.5 | 98.3 | .53 | 19.6 |
| Cooper Kupp | 53 | 7.0 | 84.3 | .60 | 19.2 |
| JaMarr Chase | 44 | 6.0 | 83.9 | .66 | 18.4 |
| Stefon Diggs | 66 | 6.7 | 81.4 | .57 | 18.3 |
| Keenan Allen | 53 | 7.2 | 77.8 | .48 | 17.8 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 66 | 6.0 | 78.0 | .56 | 17.6 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | 49 | 6.4 | 73.2 | .46 | 16.9 |
| A.J. Brown | 61 | 5.4 | 80.3 | .57 | 16.8 |
| Deebo Samuel | 50 | 4.5 | 66.0 | .64 | 16.6 |
| Mike Evans | 64 | 4.7 | 69.1 | .72 | 15.9 |
| Calvin Ridley | 37 | 5.3 | 72.2 | .53 | 15.8 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 52 | 5.7 | 72.2 | .46 | 15.7 |
| Chris Godwin | 58 | 6.0 | 68.8 | .34 | 15.1 |
| Jaylen Waddle | 47 | 5.3 | 72.0 | .40 | 15.1 |
| DK Metcalf | 66 | 4.8 | 67.2 | .55 | 14.8 |
| Tyler Lockett | 65 | 5.2 | 63.9 | .50 | 14.6 |
| Amari Cooper | 63 | 4.9 | 69.7 | .44 | 14.5 |
| DJ Moore | 66 | 4.8 | 69.7 | .37 | 14.2 |
| Adam Thielen | 62 | 5.1 | 54.5 | .56 | 13.9 |
| Tee Higgins | 56 | 4.6 | 65.8 | .44 | 13.9 |
| Diontae Johnson | 61 | 5.4 | 60.4 | .34 | 13.7 |
| Brandon Aiyuk | 61 | 4.4 | 64.0 | .45 | 13.6 |
| DeVonta Smith | 50 | 4.8 | 63.6 | .39 | 13.5 |
| Mike Williams | 47 | 4.4 | 64.8 | .41 | 13.3 |
| Terry McLaurin | 66 | 4.8 | 66.1 | .29 | 13.3 |
| Brandin Cooks | 60 | 4.7 | 59.1 | .39 | 13.0 |
| Michael Pittman | 62 | 5.4 | 59.1 | .26 | 13.0 |
| Jakobi Meyers | 58 | 4.8 | 55.2 | .36 | 12.5 |
| Christian Kirk | 60 | 4.4 | 58.3 | .37 | 12.5 |
| Marquise Brown | 58 | 4.6 | 52.8 | .36 | 12.1 |
| Russell Gage | 40 | 4.6 | 48.7 | .33 | 11.4 |
| Nico Collins | 39 | 3.8 | 57.0 | .29 | 11.3 |
| Curtis Samuel | 49 | 4.2 | 43.7 | .31 | 11.3 |
| Chase Claypool | 43 | 3.8 | 50.3 | .33 | 11.2 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 45 | 4.7 | 46.3 | .30 | 11.1 |
| Jarvis Landry | 34 | 4.3 | 48.8 | .29 | 11.1 |
| Corey Davis | 36 | 3.6 | 55.9 | .31 | 11.1 |
| George Pickens | 34 | 3.4 | 57.1 | .30 | 11.0 |
| Tyler Boyd | 64 | 4.2 | 48.4 | .26 | 10.7 |
| Marvin Jones | 49 | 4.0 | 47.7 | .33 | 10.7 |
| Robert Woods | 56 | 4.1 | 43.7 | .29 | 10.6 |
| Courtland Sutton | 49 | 3.8 | 49.9 | .29 | 10.5 |
| Jerry Jeudy | 57 | 3.7 | 53.6 | .20 | 10.3 |
| Robbie Anderson | 40 | 4.1 | 45.4 | .23 | 10.1 |
| Zay Jones | 37 | 4.4 | 43.7 | .20 | 10.0 |
| Kendrick Bourne | 47 | 3.5 | 45.0 | .28 | 9.9 |
| DJ Chark | 41 | 3.0 | 46.0 | .37 | 9.8 |
| Gabe Davis | 63 | 2.6 | 43.3 | .43 | 9.5 |
| Darnell Mooney | 60 | 3.6 | 43.2 | .21 | 9.2 |
| Odell Beckham | 34 | 2.9 | 38.3 | .35 | 9.1 |
| Allen Lazard | 52 | 3.0 | 39.7 | .35 | 9.1 |
| Darius Slayton | 59 | 2.9 | 43.8 | .19 | 8.4 |
| Rondale Moore | 39 | 3.5 | 30.8 | .10 | 7.8 |
| Rashod Bateman | 34 | 2.7 | 34.3 | .12 | 6.9 |
| Olamide Zaccheaus | 36 | 2.4 | 32.5 | .19 | 6.9 |
| Demarcus Robinson | 52 | 2.7 | 28.6 | .21 | 6.8 |
| Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 60 | 2.0 | 35.4 | .20 | 6.8 |
Speaking seriously, I'm wondering a little if these various veteran signings should have everyone concerned about Nabers' recovery. Makes sense to move him down a little, with New York seemingly going overboard in terms of covering its bases. At the same time, all of these guys aren't going to make New York's 53-man roster. I'm going to lump Beckham into the group of unlikely to have a job this year. Good luck to him and stuff, but realistically, it's over.
--Andy Richardson
