Odell Beckham already a top five receiver

New York Giants rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. took the entire league by a storm last season, and he put a huge stamp on what will likely be the greatest wide receiver class in NFL history. Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins, Kelvin Benjamin, Allen Robinson, Brandin Cooks, and several others all did some fantastic things as rookie wide receivers- which isn’t an easy position to adjust to, mind you- but OBJ was just on another level.

Beckham wasn’t exactly a secrete coming out of LSU with his elite short-area quickness, sick longspeed, nasty moves in the open field, innate ability to play the position, pro-ready route-running, sticky hands, and ability to line up in many different alignments. He had greatness written all over him in college, but the numbers he produced in the NFL almost seem unrealistic for a rookie.

Let’s just take a look at his basic stats first. 91 receptions for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns is no joke, but that looks even more incredible if you adjust it to a 16-game season without even accounting for minimal usage upon his return from nagging injuries before the season.

In 16 games, Beckham would have caught 121 passes for 1,740 yards and 16 touchdowns, which would have made him second to only Antonio Brown in receptions, first in receiving yards, and tied with Dez Bryant for first in receiving touchdowns.

As we saw in college, Beckham isn’t your average 5’11” receiver, as he plays like he’s 6’3″ at times, which makes him such a deadly red zone threat. He scores touchdowns off of big plays, as he is excellent at making defenders look foolish in the open field or blowing by safeties.

OBJ also excels in contested catch situations due to his vertical, toughness, and understanding of how to gain proper leverage against DBs and when to jump. His technique when catching passes is impeccable, and, as anyone who saw his legendary catch or Vines of his pre-game workouts can attest, he’s perfected the art of the one-handed catch.

His box score stats look impressive enough, but the advanced statistics paint the picture of a receiver who is not only elite (meaning top-15 at the wide receiver position) but also likely already a top-five player at the position. Per Advanced Football Analytics, Beckham caught 70.0% of everything thrown at him. Four receivers had higher catch rates, but only Kenny Stills also had more yards per reception than Beckham, who averaged 14.3 yards per reception.

Pro Football Focus has a helpful stat called “WR Rating” that is essentially passer rating for wide receivers; it’s the passer rating a QB had when throwing to that receiver. Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson were unsurprisingly first and second in this statistic, and Aaron Rodgers‘s 112.2 QB Rating had something to do with that. But what I find incredibly impressive is Beckham’s WR Rating of 127.6, which was not far off from Nelson’s second-place 128.2.

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Only two of Eli Manning‘s 14 picks came when targeting Beckham, who had a WR Rating well over 30 points higher than Manning’s 92.1 QB Rating. Now that’s impressive. Throw in his 70% catch rate, ten yards per target, and two drops, and you have a player who was one of the NFL’s most reliable and efficient receivers.

Those 12 touchdowns and 14+ yards per reception show you his playmaking ability, and he was one of the top five receivers in WR Rating, yards per route run, drop rate, and catch rate.

The scary thing is that there’s a chance Beckham’s numbers could have been even better, since he stated that he played through muscle tears in his leg for the whole freaking season. We can only speculate how much of an impact this had on how he did out there, but based on the injuries he suffered during training camp and in the first several weeks of the regular season, I don’t doubt that he did play through a tough injury.

What stands out to me the most about Odell Beckham isn’t his 40 time, physical tools, versatility, numbers, or toughness. Those are all huge in what makes him a special player who fits the breed of the new-type of WR; a receiver who has no weaknesses and can literally win everywhere on the field.

Oct 19, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham (13) runs the ball after making a catch in the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Beckham is special because he came into the league as pro-ready as they come. Despite missing huge chunks of valuable offseason time, he immediately stepped in and understood Ben McAdoo’s complex offense, immediately replacing and making up for the lost production that resulted from Victor Cruz‘s injury.

It isn’t easy to walk into a timing-based offense and immediately be the team’s star player, but that’s exactly what OBJ did. His route-running is as precise as it gets, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Beckham has a chance to be one of the best to ever play the game.

At the risk of hyping him up too soon, I’ll leave that out there, since Beckham is the perfect receiver. He wins at the catch point, he wins off the line of scrimmage, he’s quick, he burns people with his long speed, his ball skills are almost impossible, he’s smart, he’s tough, and he has some of the safest hands in the league.

How do you top that? How do you top a 1,700-yard pace? He could have easily hit 120-1,700-15 this past season if he weren’t injured before the season, and his overall body of work as a rookie already makes him a top-five player at the position; just look at the advanced stats.

Let me briefly show you just how valuable Beckham was to the New York Giants. OBJ was third in the NFL with a 127.8 WR Rating, per PFF. You know who was second at WR on the Giants? Preston Parker with a WR Rating of 83.8. Beckham was the only wide receiver on the team with at least ten targets to have more touchdowns to his name than interceptions thrown by Eli.

Opponents knew he was easily the Giants No. 1 threat, but it didn’t matter. He’s just that good. His box score stats will decline when Cruz comes back- assuming he’s indeed “back” after a huge knee injury- but his efficiency stats and overall impact on the offense will only increase.

Next: Where do the Giants rank among the best franchises in NFL history?

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