Fourteen seconds left in the first half, Giants at the Miami 14. Odell Beckham Jr. got open in the back of the end zone, went up for a high throw from Jameis Winston, and came down with both feet in bounds and nothing in his hands.
The ball was where it needed to be. Nobody else could have caught it. He dropped it.
“It’s a play I know I can make,” Beckham said afterward.
New York won the game 26-3, so the drop cost nothing on the scoreboard. It may cost quite a bit on Aug. 30, when the roster goes to 53.
The numbers are not making his case
Beckham was targeted four times Saturday and finished with two catches for 17 yards. The week before against Minnesota he had two for six. Two preseason games, four receptions, 23 yards.
He is getting open. Both writers who charted the game noted his movement looked sharp, and his best play was a 12-yard catch near the left sideline where he made two defenders miss in space. That is the version of Beckham that still exists at 33, and he turns 34 during the season.
What is gone is the part that made him worth a roster spot in the first place. He is a short-range possession target now, and short-range possession targets on the wrong side of 33 are the easiest players in the league to replace. Dan Duggan of The Athletic framed it plainly, writing that Beckham needs to produce to command a spot.
The end zone throw was the production. It went through his hands.
The roster math is unforgiving
The Giants have serious depth at receiver, which Harbaugh and Joe Schoen have called a good problem and which is about to become an actual problem. Somebody who can play has to go.
Beckham has the history here. He was the 2014 first-round pick, a two-time All-Pro in blue, and the most electric player the franchise has had this century. None of that shows up on a cut sheet.
His return was a good story when it was announced. It has been a quiet one since, and quiet is the worst thing a bubble player can be in late August.
One more chance
The preseason finale is Friday at MetLife against the Jets, and it is the last audition. Whether Beckham plays much in it will tell you something on its own. Bubble players get snaps in the fourth preseason game. Players the staff has already decided on do not.
Beckham said he would take it on the chin. He also said the confidence is still there. Both things can be true, and neither one catches a football.
