After flirting with joining a team late in the 2022-23 NFL season, Odell Beckham Jr. only recently latched on with the Baltimore Ravens on a one-year, $15 million contract. Remember, OBJ didn’t play a single snap last season after spending the year rehabbing his surgically repaired knee after tearing his ACL in the Rams’ Super Bowl win.
But now the 30-year-old receiver feels healthy again and is ready to be a top contributor to the Ravens’ offense, catching passes from Lamar Jackson. Even though he’s a three-time Pro Bowl receiver, there’s no guarantee Beckham can quickly return to the impact playmaker we saw in New York, at times in Cleveland, and later in Los Angeles with the Rams. That’s just the nature of the beast when recovering from multiple ACL tears.
Yet, the Ravens are taking a chance on OBJ returning to his previous form, where the receiver appears set to claim a starting role opposite Rashod Bateman. Naturally, there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Ravens’ newest star talent, even for Beckham himself.
Recently Dan Pompei of The Athletic had a chance to sit down with the one-handed catching wizard, who opened up about his current mindset heading into what will be his ninth NFL season. Here’s what OBJ had to say.
“I’m thinking like this is my last year. I’m going to give it my all this year. And then if something happens after that, we can go from there.”
Odell Beckham Jr. on upcoming season w/Ravens
Beckham clearly has a lot weighing on his mind ahead of the 2023 campaign. It’s not hard to understand why. He’s gone through a lot in his career, experiencing life as a sports icon, not just within the football community but globally.
His one-handed catch with the Giants will never be forgotten by some. When many counted him out after a less-than-ideal stint in Cleveland, Beckham proved he could still make plays at the highest level, even in a Super Bowl. What’s next for OBJ? We’re all about to find out as he heads to Baltimore.
Related: Where does Lamar Jackson rank among his peers as a starting QB?