Odell Beckham Jr. Flourishing as New York Giants' Top Receiver

In a season where very little has gone right for the New York Giants, at least there is the play of receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

The Giants’ No. 1 draft pick this year—whose NFL career at one point looked like it would never get off the ground due to a chronic hamstring issue that forced him to miss chunks of the OTAs, most the preseason and the first few weeks of the regular season—has been a sight for sore eyes.

Currently third on the team in receptions (25) with 370 yards, Beckham has a team-leading 14.8 yards-per-catch average.

That’s not bad production considering that he missed the first four games of the season.

It is also the best start for a Giants receiver drafted in the first round in his rookie season since Hakeem Nicks finished with 47 receptions for 790 yards and six touchdowns in 2009.

Year	Receiver	Receptions	Yards	Touchdowns
2014	Odell Beckham Jr.	25	370	3
2009	Hakeem Nicks	47	790	6
1997	Ike Hilliard	2	42	0
1994	Thomas Lewis	4	46	0
1987	Mark Ingram	2	32	0

Coming into this week’s game, Beckham spoke of his excitement to face Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman during a conference call:

"

It is definitely a challenge. They’re a great defense and have been a great defense for a while. It is nothing that you are not willing to face. These are the games you live to play for, the moments you live to play for, to go against the best of the best, to go against Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks and the [Legion of Boom].

To go against all those guys, why not? Why not embrace that opportunity? Why not take the challenge, accept it and face it?

"

He not only accepted and faced the challenge of going against Sherman—Pro Football Focus' fourth-ranked cornerback (subscription required) through the first half of the season—and the rest of the Seahawks defense, the 22-year-old rookie crushed it, finishing with seven receptions (out of nine targets) for 144 yards. He went 3-for-3 right out of the chute against Sherman.

When it was all over, Beckham became just the third receiver this season to have a 100-yard game against Seattle’s Legion of Boom.

Team	Receiver	Stat Line
Washington	DeSean Jackson	5 catches, 157 yards
Denver	Emmanuel Sanders	11 catches, 149 yards
New York Giants	Odell Beckham Jr.	7 receptions, 108 yards

Beckham also did something that San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree probably wishes he could have done: He earned Sherman's respect.

“[Sherman] said, ‘You’re the real deal.’ He was telling me some of the things that were going on and things he was seeing. He said, ‘You’re going to be a great player, just keep working,’” Beckham told reporters.

The highlight of Beckham's performance against the Seahawks was a 44-yard reception with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.

The play, the Giants' longest of the game, featured Beckham putting a double move against Sherman, increasing his separation and getting out front to give quarterback Eli Manning an easy target.

Here is the video:

What makes Beckham, who has now posted 100-yard receiving efforts in his last two outings, so good is a combination of speed and elusiveness that enables him to put a move on a cornerback and separate down the field.

Beckham, a favorite target of Manning's based on the quarterback's 140.2 passer rating on passes thrown in the rookie’s direction, currently leads the wide receivers with three touchdown receptions, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), and is the only receiver with a minimum of 20 targets to not have a dropped pass.

If there is one downside to Beckham’s rookie season, it is that offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo really did not get a chance to play Beckham and Victor Cruz, the latter lost for the season with a knee injury during a Week 6 loss to the Eagles, together.

Having now seen what the rookie is capable of doing—and make no mistake, Beckham is only scratching the surface of his potential—the future at the receiver spot certainly looks bright for the Giants if they can put a healthy Cruz and Beckham on the field together.

Patricia Traina covers the New York Giants for Inside Football and the Sports Xchange. All quotes and other information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow Patricia on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.