Odell Beckham Jr. has a new look that’s built for grind of long season: ‘I’ve been working hard’

Odell Beckham Jr. sported a new look in training camp, one the Baltimore Ravens weren’t surprised about as he entered Year 10 of his NFL journey. For people who haven’t seen Beckham regularly over the last few months, they were caught off guard. 

Beckham had light purple hair to signify the colors of his new team, but that wasn’t the part of his body that was being discussed. The Ravens list him at 197 pounds in the media guide, yet Beckham looks far lighter. 

“I don’t know exactly, but just, enough. Somebody was like how much do you weigh, 180?” Beckham said to reporters Thursday. “It was just funny to me because I’m not (anywhere) near 180. I’ve been working hard.”

Beckham has gone through an emotional grind over the last year. Tearing his ACL in a Super Bowl LVI victory caused beckham to miss the entire 2022 season as he set to get his body and mind right. The Ravens were exactly what Beckham was looking for in his next team, as the former Pro Bowl wideout is determined to get back to that level of play that made him one of the best receivers in the game. 

“Like I say, it’s a lot of work I had to put in to even step back onto the field and to even compete with the best in the world,” Beckham said. “We’ve got a very good defense that I have to go against every single day, so I know doubt in my mind that they’ll be able to get me right.

“You have an All-Pro corner (Marlon Humphrey). You have safeties who are probably going to be All-Pro (Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams). D-line, linebackers. It’s everything you look for in a defense. And they are tough, fast, physical. It just presents a challenge, and that challenge is every single day. 

“But that’s why I said I know (practicing against this defense) is going to get me right.” 

Beckham is in the right frame of mind, looking to put everything together by September. Training camp is not the time to peak, as Beckham seeks to gradually improve over the hot, summer months. 

“It’s about a gradual peak,” Beckham said. “If you’re ready to play a game in minicamp, when does that slope going to start to turn downwards? I’m just happy to be able, you know …. It was a lot of work from going two- three-a-days, going from a gym to a field, to lunch, to working out, to recovering. I’m just happy that you see it.”