Jordan RaananESPN staff writerRead for 2 minutes
Free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will hold practice for NFL teams in Arizona on Friday, sources told ESPN.
Beckham, 30, missed the entire season last season due to a torn cruciate ligament during last year’s Super Bowl. He did go on a free-agent tour visiting the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills late in the season.
The Giants are among the teams expected to be represented in practice, which will be a chance for Beckham to show teams where he is physically at. It’s been 13 months since the injury.
Beckham is expected to be among the top wide receivers available in free agency this year, despite a second ACL tear. It is believed that this is not a very strong group of free agent recipients.
New England’s Jakobi Meyers is the top consensus receiver available.
Beckham played at an extremely high level for the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl before awkwardly planting his foot and immediately reaching for his knee. He had three catches, 52 yards and a touchdown before the injury.
It really looked like Beckham was re-establishing himself as a top receiver with the Rams, for whom he had 27 catches for 305 yards and five touchdowns in eight regular season games in the 2021 season.
Beckham’s NFL career has been quite a wild ride since he was the Giants’ first-round pick in 2014. He came on the scene with a memorable one-handed catch against the Cowboys and set records for production in his first three seasons.
Beckham was named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2014 and had at least 1,300 yards receiving and double-digit touchdowns in each of his first three seasons. But then injuries and shenanigans started to take their toll. He broke his leg in 2017 and was famously traded to the Cleveland Browns by general manager Dave Gettleman for the 2019 season.
A core muscle injury and ineffectiveness plagued Beckham at the Browns, where he was also a lightning rod and his relationship with quarterback Baker Mayfield deteriorated.
Beckham was released by the Browns midway through the 2021 season and eventually signed with the Rams. He won a Super Bowl in Los Angeles.