Odell Beckham Jr. has likely played his final game of the 2018 regular season for the New York Giants.
On Thursday, the star wide receiver missed yet another practice as the team prepares for their regular season finale against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 at home from MetLife Stadium. When players miss practice on Thursday, it is very unlikely that they will play in that Sunday’s game. Beckham also missed practice on Wednesday and he hasn’t participated in the team drills portion of practice since the Thursday prior to the team’s Week 14 game against the Washington Redskins.
Beckham is dealing with a quad injury that will now most likely sideline him for the final four games of the regular season. The quad injury that he initially felt fine playing through has now evolved into a multi-week injury. If Beckham ends up missing this Sunday’s game, he will have missed the final quarter of the Giants’ 2018 season. Since entering the NFL in 2014, Beckham has played a full 16-game season just one time during the 2016 season when the Giants made the playoffs.
Beckham wasn’t the only Giants starter missing from practice on Thursday. Starting linebacker and defensive captain Alec Ogletree missed another practice with a concussion he suffered in Week 15. Ogletree missed the Giants’ Week 16 game against the Indianapolis Colts and he is unlikely to play against the Cowboys this Sunday. Starting tight end Rhett Ellison also missed his second straight practice with a concussion. He is unlikely to play in Week 17 and tight end Scott Simonson will take over in his place.
Other injured Giants who missed Thursday’s practice include wide receiver Russell Shepard and Mario Edward. The Giants got full practice participation from wide receiver Sterling Shepard (hip), center Spencer Pulley (quad), Kerry Wynn (thumb), and B.J. Goodson (quad).
According to Beckham, after initially suffering the quad injury on the final play of the Giants’ Week 12 loss, Beckham played his normal workload during the team’s Week 13 victory over the Chicago Bears. It wasn’t until the Giants’ Thursday practice prior to their Week 14 victory over the Washington Redskins where Beckham felt like something wasn’t right with his quad. The Giants shut him down the Friday after, ruled him out for Week 14 on Saturday, and he hasn’t practiced since.
Beckham is believed to have initially suffered during the final play of the team’s Week 13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. On the play, Beckham was “leg-whipped” and the controversial defensive effort likely should have resulted in a 15-yard penalty to set up a 62-yard game-tying field goal for Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas. The NFL never sent a formal letter of apology to the Giants for missing the penalty that injured Beckham, but Eagles defender Kamu Grugier-Hill was fined by the league nearly two weeks later after they reviewed the play.
