Odell Beckham Jr. revealed that his 2021 ACL situation was much more complex than people thought.
During his introductory press conference with the Ravens on Thursday, Beckham — who signed a one-year deal worth up to $18 million — explained what was really going on with his knee as he joined the Rams in 2021.
“That whole season, I was playing without [an ACL],” Beckham said. “It was a crazy thing. I signed with the L.A. Rams, and I remember [Rams physician Dr. Neal] ElAttrache comes down there and he’s like, ‘I’ve just got to inform you that you don’t have an ACL. You know, we can redo your surgery right now.’ And this was Week 9 of the season.”
Despite being hit with the brutal news, the star wideout was determined to play after missing most of the 2020 season recovering from ACL surgery.
“I just told him, I was like, ‘I’ve been through way too much to come here and sign. There was way too much talk on my name. You know, the past year, like I came here to win a championship,'” Beckham said. “And I told him I’d die on the sword.”
Beckham did a little more than that — catching 27 passes for 305 yards and five touchdowns in eight games with Los Angeles, adding another 21 catches, 288 yards and 2 TDs in a Super Bowl championship run.
The risk did come back to haunt him in the big game, though, when he suffered a knee injury late in the second quarter of Super Bowl 2021 against the Bengals.
The injury and recovery kept Beckham off the field for most of the 2022 season, though he did work out for multiple teams toward the end of the regular season.
The eclectic wideout continued to draw attention this offseason, flirting with several teams — including the Jets — before inking a deal with the Ravens.
Things aren’t entirely settled for Beckham in Baltimore, as quarterback Lamar Jackson’s contract status still needs to be sorted out after he requested a trade and the team placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on him.
“Didn’t get any assurances for anything, you know life’s uncertain,” Beckham said of potentially teaming up with the former NFL MVP. “I think that we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or the next day. We only know what’s happened in the past.”