Rookie receiver Odell Beckham spurned the sport in which he wouldn’t have been allowed to use his hands. The Giants now must decide how much they want Beckham to use his hands in his first NFL season.
As explained by Jordan Ranaan of NJ.com, the Giants seem to be wrestling with the question of whether to use Beckman as a kick returner or punt returner. The pros? He could be a difference maker. The cons? Jason Sehorn.
When the Giants selected Beckham with the 12th overall pick, it appeared that they planned to use him in the return game.
“He’s a dynamic receiver, dynamic punt returner and a dynamic kickoff returner,” G.M. Jerry Reese said on May 8.
Five weeks later, special teams coach Tom Quinn sang a different tune.
“Will he do each of them?” Quinn said. “You don’t know based on what the active list is for the game, but we’re prepping him to do both and prepping [Trindon] Holliday to do both and Rueben Randle’s still back there [on punts] and [Jerrel] Jernigan, so we’re trying to have a deep pool to choose from.”
They may ultimately want to choose Beckham.
“He’s explosive, he’s got legitimate speed and he runs, I think, pretty strong for his size,” Quinn said. “You put all of that together and it ends up being a good returner.”
It also could end up being a guy with a torn ACL or some other injury that wouldn’t have happened during a normal snap on offense.