This is a public service announcement, NFL fans: Odell Beckham Jr. is back to re-introduce himself.
The man they call ODB made the astonishing catch that spawned a thousand memes while still a New York Giants rookie last November. Now, if early returns are any indication, Beckham is back to blow minds and melt faces with even more reckless abandon in 2015.
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Maybe Beckham is the actual LeBron James of the NFL, to borrow from a boast made recently by Adrian Peterson. Or maybe a better way to put it is that Beckham is the Russell Westbrook of the NFL -- a player who doesn't rank among the league's top two or three overall, but one whose jaw-dropping athletic ability makes his every game a crackling tinder pile ready to ignite with an "OMFG did you just see that?!" detonation at any moment.
Rare indeed is the NFL player who produces a career-defining moment in his very first year. But that's exactly what Beckham did last season with an unforgettable catch against the Dallas Cowboys 10 months ago. Diving backwards, one-handed -- let's just take a few moments to watch this over and over again, because it never gets old:
Beckham had a killer debut NFL season, taking home rookie of the year honors while making the Pro Bowl in his very first year. But it was the catch alone -- the literal awesomeness of it -- that vaulted him to a penthouse suite in the public consciousness.
Largely because of the catch, Beckham's off-season included a stint as a fashion model, TMZ articles on his vacation activities and nasty rumors about his dating life.
Without the catch, Beckham would still be a star. Because of it, he's a full-on celebrity.
But keep those minds limber, folks. If weekend events are any indication, the Giants receiver has plenty more tricks in store for his encore season. Let's take two examples from Saturday night's preseason game against the New York Jets.
First, Beckham leapt high above Darrelle Revis -- one of the best defensive backs in the league -- to make this twisting, one-handed grab that's eerily similar to his iconic snag against Dallas from last year:
.@OBJ_3 was this close to breaking the internet all over again. And breaking #RevisIsland. #NYJvsNYG http://t.co/0kxSmKl8Jv— NFL (@NFL) August 30, 2015
The catch was ruled incomplete because Beckham landed out of bounds, and Revis should be thanking his lucky stars; ODB was thisclose to making him look completely foolish.
But Revis would not dodge humiliation for long. Soon after, Beckham absolutely obliterated him with a most barbaric stiff-arm following a catch. Remember, this is one of the league's top defenders Beckham is turning into his personal play-toy:
Yes, we hear the sneering snark gallery: Beckham's Saturday night snag didn't actually count because he landed out of bounds; his stiff-arm came in a meaningless preseason game; Revis might not have been going full speed.
Can it. No number of qualifiers and caveats disproves the central point here: Odell Beckham Jr. is the closest thing the NFL has to a slam-dunking superstar. He's appointment viewing. In his sport, at this time, there's no one else like him. (Although, would you expect anything less than the utterly astounding from a guy who used to catch kickoffs one-handed in college?)
If you're an NFL fan weary of executive incompetence, wife-beating players and the asinine idiocy known as Deflategate, Beckham's return to the field is nothing but good news. He's the man who returns wonder to football fans sick of sullying storylines.