NY Giants Mailbag: Should Giants Sign Odell Beckham Jr.?

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Want to get in on our weekly mailbag?You can do so here, or post your questions on X (formerly known as Twitter) to @Patricia_Traina, hashtag #askPTrain. Letters may be edited for clarity/length.
Thoughts about the Giants re-signing Odell Beckham, Jr.? – Keith M.
Keith, I wouldn’t be against it, but I suspect the Giants, if they were to sign OBJ, would do so to allow him to retire as a Giant. The Giants have a pretty stacked group of receiving weapons, including the tight ends and running backs. So, who are you going to take targets away from if you bring in Beckham?
I think for it to work, Beckham would have to come in on a veteran salary benefit deal and understand that he wouldn’t be the featured receiver in the passing game. I also think for that to happen, one of Jalin Hyatt, Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton, or Wan’Dale Robinson would have to be injured.
Remember, once you get down to WR4 and WR5 on the depth chart, you want that guy to be able to give you special teams snaps. I don’t believe Beckham did that during his first stint with the team, if at all, during his career.
I read the reports about Jaxson Dart being inconsistent this spring. Is that because of him or because of the defense? – Andy K.

Andy, I think it’s a combination of both. Remember, during the spring, the defense is always at an advantage because offensive linemen can’t block them the way they need to.
That said, Dart is a rookie whose game needs refinement. I’m not sure why some people are surprised to hear about the flaws in his game, flaws which were present in his college tape.
However, let me remind everyone that even Eli Manning when he took his first practice snaps as a rookie, had many people wondering if the team had made a mistake. How did that turn out again?

Do you think the Giants will trade Kayvon Thibodeaux? They can’t possibly have all three pass rushers on the field at once, right? So wouldn’t it make sense to move Thibodeaux? – David R.
David, do you remember the last two Giants Super Bowls and how many pass rushers both of those teams had? Trust me, you can never have enough.
Also, no rule says you have to have all three of Carter, Burns, and Thibodeaux on the field every single snap. As to your question, no, I don’t think they’ll move Thibodeaux right now. If the season goes down on Tuesday, maybe they'll take some calls.
But look, how many years have you heard me screaming about the lack of quality pass rushers on this team? Trust me when I say this is a good problem to have.
How can the Giants cut down on injuries? – Adam Z.
Pray? Do a rain dance? Okay, enough joking around. I strongly suspect that the injury issue is related to how they’ve practiced and how they recover as a team. I don’t buy it’s the turf’s fault, not when injuries also occur on the grass and not when the Jets, who also play on that turf, aren’t up there in team injuries.
I think it has to do with recovery and conditioning. Remember, the Giants made over their S&C coaching staff this offseason, so there could very well be something to what I’m saying about conditioning and recovery.
With training camp coming up, what’s your wildest memory of the summer? – Paula J.
That’s easy. The Giants-Jets joint practice in August 2005, which was marred by a series of brawls. This was when they were up in Albany.
I went to work that day expecting to see a football practice, and fisticuffs broke out. I don’t think anyone got hurt in those fights, but I question if either team got much of what they wanted to accomplish.
This is why I’m not a fan of fights breaking out at camp. Being feisty is one thing, but if you have to stop the flow of things because both sides go off-script, that’s not good, especially for a team like the Giants, who haven’t been very good the last two seasons.
What would surprise you most coming out of training camp? – George H.
I think I would be shocked if the defense wasn’t as good as it looked in the spring, and I say that with the understanding that the defense had the advantage over the offense in the spring.
Still, if this defense can generate a fraction of the production it did in the drills against live competition, I think many people will be very happy.
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Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.
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