Odell Beckham Jr. became famous early in his NFL career for making crazy one-handed catchs, and there they were at Miami Dolphins minicamp practice Wednesday.
One after the other, four, five times a row, Beckham would reach out with his right hand and snag the football and made it look easy. It happened at times while he was holding a ball in his left arm.
And this was after Beckham hit the net twice during a fun session when the Dolphins' four quarterbacks, three assistant coaches and Beckham took turns trying to hit that horizontal net in the left corner of the end zone from the 10-yard line.
And then Beckham capped things off by throwing the football from midfield and having it bounce off the goalpost — the math telling us that was a 60-yard throw.
That, of course, was the extent of Beckham's participation in practice Wednesday as he continued to sit out the on-field work with his teammates.
DOLPHINS BRINGING BECKHAM ALONG SLOWLY
Without using the exact words, head coach Mike McDaniel kind of suggested before practice that Beckham is dealing with some kind of physical issue, explaining why he did not participate in any of the four practices open to the media this offseason.
"These are always funny," McDaniel said. "Everybody is excited to see players when they first get here specifically, and a player of that caliber, everyone is pumped up. But systematically what we try to do is learn the player and develop a relationship with them and adjust to their body on their timeline so we can have the most beneficial, communicative relationship of maintaining health.
"Long story short, working into playing with the Miami Dolphins, between myself and (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston) we decided you guys were going to have to wait. But that’s just due to the individual process that we are very consistent with when new guys come to the team. We take nothing of assumption and make sure when guys are on the field, there’s no setbacks. We’re obviously applying that to him.”
Beckham signed with the Dolphins in early May to give the Dolphins another target in the passing game to go along with Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, new tight end Jonnu Smith, not to mention the team's speedy running backs.
But it won't be until the summer that Beckham will be practicing with his teammates and showing what he could bring to the offense.
"He's been aproductive player in this league for a long time, and a heck of an asset for us," wide receivers coach Wes Welker said. "So, extremely excited to be working with him and and seeing how far we can kind of take this end with him out there on the field with the other two guys that we have."
