Odell Beckham Jr.

Odell Beckham Jr. - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Odell Beckham Jr.

Odell Cornelious Beckham Jr. (born November 5, 1992), commonly known by his initials OBJ, is an American professional football wide receiver for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers and was selected by the Giants in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. He has played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Ravens, and Miami Dolphins.

This profile of Odell Beckham Jr. covers Early Life and Family Background, 2011 season, 2012 season, 2013 season and New York Giants (first stint).

Beckham started the 2012 BCS National Championship Game in his first year playing at LSU, and won the Paul Hornung Award following his junior season in 2013. In his first season with the Giants, Beckham broke numerous NFL rookie receiving records, despite missing the first four games of the season due to injury. Beckham became the first player to record more than 75 receptions, 1,100 yards, and ten touchdowns in a rookie season, and broke the rookie record for the most average receiving yards per game. During Week 12 of his first season, Beckham came to national attention when he made a one-handed touchdown catch while falling backwards in a Sunday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, which numerous pundits and athletes called "the greatest catch ever made". Beckham won the 2014 Offensive Rookie of the Year award. In 2016, he became the fastest player in NFL history to reach both 200 career receptions and 4,000 career receiving yards. That same season, he recorded his first 100-reception season and reached the NFL playoffs for the first time in his career, after helping the Giants to an 11–5 season record. Beckham was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons and has been named a second-team All-Pro twice.

After a stint with the Cleveland Browns, Beckham was signed by the Los Angeles Rams midway through the 2021 season. Beckham and the Rams went on to win Super Bowl LVI. He spent the 2022 season out of football while rehabbing an ACL injury he sustained in the Super Bowl before signing with the Baltimore Ravens in 2023. He left Baltimore for the Miami Dolphins in 2024 and mutually agreed to be released the following December. After missing the 2025 season, he returned to the Giants in 2026.

Early Life and Family Background of Odell Beckham Jr.

Beckham was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he played wide receiver, quarterback, running back, and cornerback for the Greenies football team. As a junior, he caught 45 passes for 743 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also adding three more scores on the ground. As a senior, he hauled in 50 catches for 1,010 yards and 19 touchdowns, joining Cooper Manning as the only two players in school history to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Also, he rushed for 331 yards and six touchdowns, passed for 90 yards and a score and also averaged 30.0 yards per punt return. He was named to the Times Picayune 2011 Blue-Chip list and to the Louisiana 2A All-State first-team as a wide receiver, while he also earned District 9-2A Offensive MVP honors and a spot on The Advocate's Super Dozen.

In basketball, Beckham lettered all four years and was an all-district selection his junior and senior years. As a standout track & field athlete, Beckham followed in his mother's footsteps to excel in the sprinting and jumping events while at Newman High. He took silver in the long jump event at the 2010 Newman Invitational, with a career-best leap of 6.83 meters. At the 2010 LA 2A State Meet, he earned sixth-place finishes in both the 200-meter dash, with a PR time of 22.31 seconds, and in the long jump, with a leap of 6.71 meters (21 ft 11 in). He was also a member of the Newman 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m relay teams.

Beckham also played soccer growing up and considers English player David Beckham his childhood idol. His soccer club coaches offered Beckham a chance to try out for a junior national team program, but he did not want to spend the required time overseas considering his talents in other sports at home.

Regarded as a four-star recruit by both Rivals.com and Scout.com, Beckham was rated as the No. 6 wide receiver and as the No. 40 player in the nation. He chose Louisiana State University (LSU) over scholarship offers from Ole Miss, Nebraska, Tulane, and Tulsa, among others. He also played in the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

2011 season of Odell Beckham Jr.

As a true freshman at LSU in 2011, Beckham started nine of 14 games. He made his collegiate debut on September 3, 2011, against the #3 Oregon Ducks. Against the Ducks, he had two receptions for 10 yards in the 40–27 victory. Against the #16 West Virginia Mountaineers on September 24, Beckham scored his first career collegiate touchdown, a 52-yard reception from Jarrett Lee, in the 47–21 victory. In the SEC Championship against the #12 Georgia Bulldogs, Beckham was held without a catch but did have two punt returns in the 42–10 victory. The Tigers finished with a 13–0 record and made the BCS National Championship game in Beckham's freshman season. In the game, which was a rematch against the Alabama Crimson Tide, Beckham had five receptions for 38 yards in the 21–0 defeat. Overall, in his freshman season, Beckham finished second on the team with 41 receptions for 475 yards and tied for third with two receiving touchdowns. He was named a freshman All-SEC selection.

2012 season

As a sophomore in 2012, Beckham started 12 of 13 games for the Tigers. In the season opener against the North Texas Mean Green, he had his first collegiate career punt return touchdown, a 70-yard return in the first quarter of the 41–14 victory. On September 29, he had his first career collegiate game with over 100 yards against the Towson Tigers. He had five receptions for 128 yards and two touchdowns in the 38–22 victory over the Tigers. On November 17, against SEC West rival Ole Miss, he was held to only two receptions for 13 yards, but he had an 89-yard punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter help tie the game late. The Tigers would end up beating the Rebels by a score of 41–35. In the regular season finale against the Arkansas Razorbacks, he had four receptions for 112 receiving yards in the 20–13 victory. LSU finished with a 10–2 record and qualified for the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Clemson. Beckham had three receptions for 40 receiving yards as LSU lost 25–24 on a game-winning field goal by Clemson as time expired. He finished first on the team in receiving yards with 713, second in receptions with 43, only behind Jarvis Landry's 56 receptions, and third on the team with two receiving touchdowns.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odell_Beckham_Jr.), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.