No one has any proof how much the Giants will miss Odell Beckham Jr. on the field.
Anyone wishing to downplay his absence can point to the production (scoring 40, 0, 27 and 35 points) while Beckham missed the final four games last season as evidence the Giants can move the ball and score without his dynamism. They can preach a spread-the-wealth mantra that sounds wonderfully egalitarian, until it is third-and-8 and someone needs to do something special to pick up the first down. They can theorize how opponents will line up now that they do not have to send multiple defenders in one direction — Beckham’s.
After Beckham’s trade to the Browns, the Giants can move on with all this without looking back.
“It doesn’t matter,’’ receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said recently. “I don’t expect anything from anybody. We’re going to go out there and run the offense.’’
Tolbert has a history with the Beckham family. He played receiver at LSU when one of his teammates was a running back named Odell Beckham Sr. — meaning he knew not only the father of the former Giants star but also the mother, Heather, who gave birth to little Odell in college. Tolbert was hired by the Giants in 2018 and reconnected with Odell as his position coach.
So Tolbert knows all there is to know about what makes Beckham tick and how he gives defenses fits. That is in the past. This season Tolbert gets to work with a familiar cast of characters. The Giants secured starter Sterling Shepard with a four-year contract extension, and also re-signed Corey Coleman, Russell Shepard, Cody Latimer and Bennie Fowler — all reserves with the team in 2018 and asked back in free agency. The only receiver among the 10 draft picks, Darius Slayton of Auburn, came in the fifth round.
The key addition is Golden Tate, a nine-year veteran signed to a four-year, $37.5 million deal to help offset the loss of Beckham.
Until this group delivers, it will be known more so for who is not here.
“Well, I believe in the group that we have in the room right now,’’ Tolbert said. “I’m very, very confident in my coaching ability, and I coach guys from all different ends of the spectrum, and whoever we put on the field is going to be a contributing player for our offense. So it doesn’t matter who’s in the room. We’re going to coach him up to get him to play the best of your ability and will be successful with the guys we have in the room.’’
The trade of Beckham removed the star power from the Giants’ receiver world and also ended the “Where’s Odell?’’ search that took place this time of year whenever players gathered for one of the voluntary sessions — when attendance is not supposed to be taken, but always is.
That bookkeeping chore now moves to Cleveland, where media covering the Browns obsess about Beckham’s whereabouts and his new teammates are left to answer questions about their absent superstar. Beckham attended the first organized team activity practice on Tuesday, was not there Wednesday. Quarterback Baker Mayfield tried to downplay the interest in where Beckham was.
“You let a guy like that ‘do him,’ ’’ Mayfield said.
For five years, the Giants mostly let Beckham “do him.” Last year, seeking a new contract, Beckham attended the first minicamp after Pat Shurmur was hired as coach and also the mandatory veteran camp in mid-June. In between, he showed up for just three of the 10 OTA practices, preferring to do his offseason training in Los Angeles.
Tolbert insisted the dynamic in the wide receivers’ room does not change with Beckham no longer present. Tolbert was not interested in dwelling on anything related to Beckham.
“I’m going to say this about Odell: I don’t want this to be an Odell Q and A,’’ Tolbert said. “Odell was a great player for us, with the Giants. We all love Odell, we respect him as a player and wish him nothing but the best with the Cleveland Browns. I know that coach Shurmur and Mr. [Dave] Gettleman have addressed all of the Odell questions. So, … I’m just going to look forward to coaching the guys we have in our room now.’’