In his first two games back in the NFL and with the New York Giants, Odell Beckham Jr. has barely seen the field. Asked about the veteran wideout’s role, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy revealed the team’s plan for Odell and why fans may not need to panic.
“No, [Beckham Jr. isn’t a backup plan in case somebody gets hurt]. He does a lot of good things well. We’re trying to slowly package him in some things offensively. It’s not that he is just a backup, we have him on the gameplan, we really just didn’t get to it,” Nagy admitted, via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy.
Every fan in New York knew Odell’s return would be by fits and starts and progressive rather than an explosive, not-miss-a-single-beat comeback. Still, through two weeks of the NFL season, many expected to get a bigger taste of what Beckham Jr. can do on the Giants’ offense.
So far, it’s been as if he wasn’t there, and OBJ has been spotted way more often on the sidelines than on the gridiron. Odell’s on-the-field appearances are so rare through the first two weeks that fans across the NFL asked whether Beckham Jr. was playing for the Giants against the Los Angeles Rams.
Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator for the NY Giants.
Nagy voices a reminder for Beckham Jr.
Anything can happen, and the status quo might change at any given moment, though. That was exactly what Nagy reminded Beckham Jr. of, even if the team’s offensive coordinator believes Odell is already aware of it.
“You’ve got to be ready, [you’re] one injury away from being in all the time and [Odell Beckham Jr.] knows that, he understands,” Nagy concluded his answer on the lack of opportunities Beckham has had so far in 2026.
As New York has recently been reminded, and Beckham Jr. reacted to Jaxson Dart’s injury, such setbacks are a part of football, and no team in the NFL is exempt from them. Still, Giants fans sure hope Beckham Jr. can earn a bigger role and that it isn’t limited to an in-case-of-emergency situation, only arising when a player ahead of OBJ on the Giants’ WR depth chart goes down.
How many snaps has Odell Beckham Jr. played so far?
Through the first two weeks of the 2026 campaign, Beckham Jr. has only played a total of 14 snaps, per Footballguys.com. Odell played 11 snaps in Week 1’s home opener, a Sunday night showdown against the Dallas Cowboys, making up just 16% of the team’s offensive snaps.
In Week 2, again on national television but on a Monday night, the 28-6 loss to the Rams, Beckham Jr.’s snap count dropped to three, making up 5% of the team’s offensive snaps. Even with the unfortunate change at quarterback and the G-Men trailing all night long, Odell barely saw the field.
With such a low snap count, it’s not shocking to learn Beckham has no stats whatsoever on the year, not even a single target. So far, Nagy and the Giants’ coaching staff basically have the 33-year-old wideout doing cardio out on the field. For the time being, Beckham Jr. might be understanding, but there’s always a limit, and if this trend prevails, it may not be long before New York finds Odell’s.
Key takeaways
- Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy revealed the team is slowly packaging the veteran into their offense.
- Odell Beckham Jr. played only 11 snaps (16%) in the Week 1 home opener.
- He saw his playing time drop to just three snaps (5%) in Week 2.
