After the latest diagnosis on Odell Beckham Jr.’s ankle, the New York Giants are in a no-win scenario with their star wideout.
Sunday night, Odell Beckham Jr. was inactive for the New York Giants’ season opener in Dallas with an ankle injury — which was a big reason for their 19-3 defeat. Unfortunately for Big Blue, the tough news keeps on rolling. According to SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano, Beckham was told that his ankle would need “6-8 weeks” to recover.Odell Beckham just said he was told he'd need 6-8 weeks to recover from his sprained ankle.
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) September 14, 2017
In the wake of this news, the Giants find themselves in a no-win scenario with their star wideout.
After participating in practice Thursday afternoon, it appeared as if Beckham was working towards playing Monday night versus the Detroit Lions. But this reveal instead brings about doubt and leaves the Giants with two options.
The first option the Giants and Beckham have is to let him play through the ankle woes. In doing so, they would get their best weapon and arguably most important player back on the field. While limited, Beckham’s presence could begin to open things up for the rest of the Giants receivers—Brandon Marshall, Sterling Shepard and company.
Even if Beckham is only at 50 percent, he’d be the Giants go-to and number one asset on the outside. Simultaneously, though, head coach Ben McAdoo and the Giants would be running the risk of his injury getting worse.
If Beckham plays with a so-so ankle, he could very well worsen the injury, even playing in a limited role; any uncalled for weight he puts on that ankle could come back to haunt him.
Meanwhile, the Giants could take the safe route and sit Beckham.
The unpopular option for general manager Jerry Reese, McAdoo and company would be to sit Beckham out for the remaining three weeks. Given the diagnosis, Beckham would likely not be cleared to play until week five. But that could ultimately doom their playoff chances.
With their irreplaceable product inactive through week five, the Giants could quickly see their season fall into a black hole. With their next three matchups versus the Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Giants will have their hands full without Beckham. So ultimately, they are completely hosed.
On one hand, they could play Beckham, but run the risk of him worsening his ankle. On the other hand, they could opt to force him to fully recover, but potentially be 0-4 when he returns. While going winless in their first four games may sound like an overreaction, look at how this offense fared on Sunday night.
Running for just 35 yards and throwing for 220 while posting just a lone field goal, the Giants offense was lost without Beckham. And with well-established playoff teams on the calendar, that offense may very well face a similar fate.
Without Beckham, it’s clear that the Giants offense is not elite; they still haven’t even proven if they’re stellar with him.
Now, the Giants season and potential playoff success are in imminent danger. If Beckham misses their next four affairs or plays hurt, the Giants offense will not make the big jump and pose as an elite bunch — which many portrayed them as going into this season.
Beckham’s health can be blamed on McAdoo for playing him in the preseason. It could be blamed on Briean Boddy-Calhoun for hitting him low. Maybe the finger gets pointed at the NFL for even having the preseason? No matter how you slice things, Beckham’s injury puts the Giants in a near impossible situation to play themselves out of.
