Not long ago, the idea of Odell Beckham Jr. returning to the New York Giants would’ve sounded… odd. Sure, he once lit up the league in that uniform, but with his recent dip in production, most fans had already moved on from the thought of a reunion. It felt like a chapter that had been closed for good. But things change fast in the NFL.

Beckham Jr. is back on the market as a free agent, and suddenly, that once-unthinkable scenario doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. In fact, the possibility of him wearing Giants blue again is gaining traction, and what makes it even more intriguing is that both sides appear open to making it happen.

Per reports, the wide receiver was in New York and was put through a physical at the Giants’ facility on April 19. This comes after Beckham also met with head coach John Harbaugh at the NFL’s annual meetings in Phoenix, Arizona, to reportedly talk about coming back to the Giants. He is attempting a comeback in the league after being suspended by the league for violating the policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

He played for Harbaugh in Baltimore in 2023, and they have kept in touch ever since.

“He and I do talk. We do text,” Harbaugh said about the player. “We’ve maintained a really great relationship. He’s one of my very favorite people in the world. It’s not like you don’t talk to guys on things like that. And certainly, we have.”

The buzz around Beckham’s return has been brewing since both the Giants and the player began entertaining the idea. The receiver has been vocal about wanting to play for the team that drafted him and is “excited” about the opportunity. General Manager Joe Schoen added more fuel to the fire by admitting that Beckham was on their list of free agents to target, and that they would “never not pursue someone that can help.” Schoen had also said that a workout was on the cards.

“We’re not going to work out [newly signed tight end] Isaiah Likely or somebody — but somebody that hasn’t played, in this instance, you’re talking about Odell, hasn’t played in a year,” the general manager said last month. “You’d certainly want to see him work out.”

All signs now point towards Odell Beckham Jr. moving to New York. This would unite the team with one of its best finds on wide receiver, having recorded four seasons with a haul of 1,000+ receiving yards. The one year he wasn’t able to was in 2017, when he’d suffered an ankle injury.

It has been seven years since he left the team, and as he tried to get back on the field, the Giants also clearly need help at wide receiver entering the 2026 season.

Quarterback Jaxson Dart will resume his starter role. But the top WR target, Malik Nabers, is still rehabbing his ACL injury. The Giants have signed Calvin Austin III and Darnell Mooney and further bolstered the depth by re-signing Isaiah Hodgins. Darius Slayton will also return as a starter, but replacing someone like Wan’Dale Robinson will not be a cakewalk with these names. Odell Beckham Jr. seems like the perfect fit here, having delivered at a very high level during his time with the Giants.

However, as picture-perfect as the receiver’s return seems, there are some serious things that need to be considered by the Giants.

Odell Beckham Jr.’s return to New York has its red flags

For starters, the player is 33. He has played in Harbaugh’s system before, during his 2023 run with the Baltimore Ravens. But in the seven years he has been away from the Giants, Beckham Jr. recorded more than 1000 receiving yards only once (Cleveland Browns, 2019). He has since been injured multiple times and was pushed back in the depth chart as his absences grew. From being a go-to option, Beckham Jr. had been relegated to a rotational player.

And, even though Beckham was a big part of the Giants’ offense, he did stir up a series of controversies. OBJ was also known for his temper outbursts and being fined repeatedly. In 2022, Beckham was in the news for being escorted out of a plane headed for Los Angeles, after he allegedly “refused to comply” with protocol. The crew thought he was unconscious, while Beckham asserted that he had simply fallen asleep.

But there is a slim chance that Odell Beckham Jr. redeems himself at the Giants this time, as a changed man. Former New York linebacker Carl Banks said on the Bleav Network earlier this month, “He’s no longer the guy who magically sucks the oxygen out of the room.”

That said, Banks believes OBJ will be a great addition to the locker room and a great asset to Malik Nabers.

The bigger question is, how much are the Giants willing to bet on the veteran WR? It is safe to presume that he may never reach that ceiling he set for himself in New York. He did not play in 2022 because no team signed him, and the Dolphins had waived him in December 2024. Now that there is serious doubt about his potential, is Odell Beckham Jr. really the right choice for New York? Time will tell.