Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t get any targets in the New York Giants’ Week 1 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. But on one of the first chances he got, the veteran wide receiver left a lasting impression on Caleb Downs, the rookie first-round safety for Dallas.
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On the Downs2Business podcast, Caleb sat down with his brother, Josh Downs, and former NFL safety Tyrann Mathieu to talk about this first NFL regular season game, and shared the story of how OBJ painted a target on his back.
“So, I seen Odell before the game, dapped up or whatever,” Downs said. “It was like on of the first plays he was in. We was in quarters. I’m going to fit on the ball, whatever. I see him come out of nowhere. He tried to crack block me, I’m like, ‘Bro, where did he come from?’ I ain’t gonna lie, I’ll always remember that moment of him coming out of nowhere.
“And it’s not like he tried to fit me up, No, he tried to throw his shoulder at me and really knock me on the ground. He tried to smack me out of nowhere. I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is hilarious.’ It’s like, just the fact that I’m on with this dude is crazy. I mean, that’s great. That’s awesome.”
That attempted tackle may not have shown up on OBJ’s box score, but he does have a reputation for ploughing through defenders. Per Pro Football Reference, he even has 3 solo tackles in his name defensively, alongside one forced fumble across the 10 seasons he’s played in the league before 2026.
That’s the force Caleb Downs came face-to-face with in his first regular-season game. But even beyond all this, there’s another reason this encounter will be memorable for Downs.
When Downs showed up at the Cowboys’ rookie minicamp, he donned the No. 18 jersey. He eventually switched to the No. 13 that we’ve grown used to seeing now, and one of the inspirations for that number was Odell Beckham Jr. alongside Downs’ Alabama senior – New York Jets safety Malachi Moore.
“Funny thing is, the first person I ever seen rock 13, it was Odell, but, defensive-wise, it was Malachi Moore, shoutout to Malachi,” Downs had revealed in a previous edition of his podcast. “When he was at ‘Bama, his freshman year, watching that when I was a freshman in high school, I was like, ‘That’s tough, 13, that’s smooth.’ It was smooth. You can make 13 look – you can make it shake in 13.”
OBJ wore that number for his first stint with the Giants (2014-18) and then carried it with the Cleveland Browns (2019-2021). Even though he shifted to No. 3 for the rest of his NFL career, when he made the final roster for the Giants this offseason, he got his old number again. One can imagine how Downs felt watching one of the inspirations for his own number charging at him to bring him down.
Caleb Downs will get one more shot to line up across from OBJ when their teams face off again in Week 17. Perhaps that game will give him another memento – even a jersey swap – from his icon. For now, though, that shoulder throw by OBJ – as well as his first regular-season defeat – will be an irreplaceable moment in Downs’ mind.