This holiday weekend brings Good Friday, Passover and Easter. One of my favs is the Sunday night ritual of The Ten Commandments. “That before death closed my eyes, I might behold the deliverer who will lead all men to freedom,” utters the wish of an old slave. Moses is The Deliverer. Numero Uno. The one and only.
For the NY Giants, The Deliverer of the next Super Bowl is Odell Beckham. This other worldly Wide Receiver is all the hype and more. We did not see it this time last year, pre-draft, when his lack of size generated an 18th grade overall. What very few people saw was how much quickness he had. If the 2014 draft were to be replayed right now, he would go 1st or 2nd overall, and in my opinion he would only be passed up by a QB-hungry team (Bridgewater? replay mistake).
Odell Beckham is the biggest gamechanging impact player that the Giants have had on their roster since Lawrence Taylor. Of course it is unfair to dismiss the 15 seasons of someone like Michael Strahan. But dollar for dollar, 12 games for 12 games, assuming health going forward, Beckham is meteoric. He put up Randy Moss rookie numbers in 3/4ths of a season. He raised Eli’s QB rating (on passes thrown to him, courtesy PFF) to 2nd behind only Aaron Rodgers when throwing to his best 2 WRs. Consider the words of Hall of Famer Harry Carson:
“The impact Odell Beckham Jr. is having on the Giants offense is the same impact Lawrence Taylor had on the Giants defense.”
Harry should know, having been a Pro Bowl Linebacker before LT was even drafted.
For those of you young enough to have only seen LT at the end of his career, or only on some highlight reels, let’s review the kind of impact we are talking about. Every game LT suited up, he brought a lot of impact plays. If an opposing offense schemed him out of the game (they all tried), it meant the rest of the defense had a plethora of opportunities because it was like 10 on 8 football. LT was an offensive coordinator’s nightmare. He forced teams to account for him on every play.
LT wreaked havoc. You could not stop him, only slow his down some. Pound for pound, the greatest football player I have ever watched from ~1969 to present is Lawrence Taylor. Now it is certainly possible with sports medicine, nutrition and technology, that LT would no longer be the greatest. But for my money, he was and still is the greatest defensive player I have sever seen. I saw film of Jim Brown, and given that he averaged 100 yards per game his entire career, I put him #1 and LT #2.
Back to the present, you can see why my eyes and those of Harry Carson are in complete agreement. I do not believe Beckham can be guarded… at least not consistently through a game. Wonder says that there is not a CB in the NFL that can shut him down. His explosive quickness is unique. He makes cuts and runs such incredible routes that he makes ordinary corners look silly. Just like no one could replicate LT (Derrick Thomas was a poor man’s LT, still a Hall of Famer!), right now it is folly to try to find another Beckham, because this is probably a once-in-a-generation player. It may be NFL candy, but JJ Watt and Beckham were taken in the Pro Bowl right after QB.
How good is Odell Beckham? Expect that DAL PHL & WAS will all be drafting the best CB they can asap next spring. #howdoyoucageamonster
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) December 29, 2014
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Memo to the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins: you are going to be facing this Force of Nature for likely many years. Draft Cornerback NOW. A couple of times. Just like LT, you will not be able to stop Odell Beckham. But you will need an excellent corner to stay with him and prevent havoc. Otherwise he’s going to be making cuts and leave your corner in another zip code. This is not smack trash talk. This is sound advice to prioritize team needs because you will be seeing him twice per season. These guys who wreak havoc will undress you if you do not have an answer.
Am I overhyping OBJ? My answer is an emphatic no. Barring injuries, this player is The Deliverer. I had a man crush on Jason Sehorn, who did it all in 1997, a year before his ACL and MCL tear in the Jets preseason game. But it was not until Sehorn’s 4th year that it all came together. Strahan did not make the Pro Bowl until his 5th season. Yes, it is not necessarily how you start but how you finish. The truly great ones are shot out of a cannon. They are great from the moment they walk on the field. It took an injured Beckham all of 3 games (with 3 TDs) before he exploded with 1200 yards in the next 9 games. Does anyone here think Calvin Johnson’s single season receiving yards record (1964, in 2012) is safe?
All of this talk is meaningless if OBJ suffers injuries that derail his career. The rule changes preventing hits to the head make Beckham’s chance at longevity (statistically speaking) greater. His impact will clearly be tied to how healthy he can be. The NY Giants have done a horrible job with overall team health the last 6 years, so there are risks here. Not sure who the brain trust was that decided it was acceptable to have this guy returning punts. Glad that wasn’t a disaster. The addition of Harris for specials, as expensive as it was, was not completely unreasonable if only for preventing injury to OBJ on special teams.
For the NY Giants, the next 3 years are a special opportunity for the The Deliverer to… deliver. His cap hit is 2.3MM, 2.8MM and 3.3MM in 2015 through 2017. Puny. So this is the huge advantage of scoring big in the draft immediately with a rookie. The Giants have to make hay while the sun shines. After 2017, even assuming the Giants re-sign him, he will take so many draft resources with a new contract that his advantage will be diluted. Yes, it will still be great to have the impact plays. But realistically, these 3 years coming up are the years where he is on the roster with a ton of cap space (for the other players) to win a title.
Summary: The Giants hit Lotto. Odell Beckham is a once in a generation phenom that offers the Gmen a lot of opportunity to win titles, especially in the next 3 years when his cap load is so small. The rest of the NFC East would be wise to make sure they have the CBs to manage this problem. For fans of the NFL, sit back and watch a rising star entertain you. For Giants fans, enjoy the show but remember that we count success by titles.
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