Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. Embraces a Different Kind of Pressure

For the first time in his NFL career, there are no guarantees for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., but he’s hopeful that he can do enough to convince the New York Giants, who back in the 2014 NFL draft took a chance on him, to take another chance on him now.

“I kind of like it,” Beckham said of the challenge. “My boy texted me—he's like, ‘This is where you thrive, like pressure.’ When I have pressure, I live for it.”

Beckham has been around long enough to know that there are only so many reps to go around during a training camp practice, and that it’s imperative to make each one count for something.

“I definitely put pressure on myself to make plays. This is the conversation I had with (Head) Coach (John Harbaugh) before I ever came here. He's like, ‘You know, I’ve got a really good relationship with you, I don't want you (to) come here, and then something happens, and you can't make the team.’

“I'm like, ‘I can live with me getting up, leaving my home, coming here and giving my best effort, and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.’ I couldn't live with me feeling like I gave up on myself and I never (saw) through my dream that I've been chasing since I was four years old. I couldn't live with that.”

After an initial slow start following his signing by the Giants, Beckham’s game has slowly begun to round into shape. No one is going to mistake him for his younger, more dynamic self, and Beckham realizes that those days are well behind him.

But what he still believes, and is intending to show the Giants, is that he still has something left to give an offense that’s looking to jump into the top-10 league-wide, and that he can be a positive influence in an otherwise relatively young locker room.

“I'm all for competition; I've always been like that,” he said. “I feel like I rise to the occasion. And right now, I'm just trying to stay in the bag, you know what I mean? I'm trying to get better every day, know exactly what I’ve got to do, get open, catch the ball, score, get back to the game that I truly love, and I'm just grateful for the opportunity.”

Beckham isn’t just trying to contribute on the field. He’s been sharing his wisdom and life lessons learned off the field with his teammates, which includes not resting on one’s laurels if you have a strong outing because it’s more important to stack good days than to hang one’s hat on just one outstanding showing.

That kind of approach is what Beckham hopes will get him through what has been perhaps his biggest career challenge to date: proving that he’s still good enough to belong.

“This is the ‘prove to myself.’ It's never really been to prove it to others, but it's always fun when you can prove it to others. But this is for me, this is for my son, this is like – in our household, we never give up, you know what I'm saying?” he said.

“No matter what it is, you're going to finish what you started. And that's kind of all this is to me. I take it as if God's giving me one year, then it is what it is, but who knows what it's going to be. I'm just trying to be present every day, and prove to myself that I am who I know I am.”

Who he is today is a competitor who is less about his own personal stats and more about the greater cause: winning games.

“I'm not so much caught up in what numbers are going to be; I just want to be the best me that I can be. I want to get open and create separation, catch the ball, hopefully score a lot, and have fun. That's really all it is for me.”

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