In Week 5, Dolphins receiver Odell Beckham Jr. made his debut with the team. He participated in 11 snaps, during which he was targeted twice — with no receptions.
For a player who was once the best receiver in football, he’s not stressing about the situation.
“This is the least pressure I’ve ever felt in my life,” Beckham recently told Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald.
Playing football also helps him manage stress from beyond the field.
“I have to find ways to continue to fight through some of the things I’m battling in my life,” Beckham said. “Each and every person, no matter how high or high low, we all go through things in life.”
He said he welcomes the challenge of taking on a different, inherently reduced role, not that he has emerged from the physically unable to perform list with what turned out to be a knee injury.
“I’m always expecting to get the ball and make plays,” Beckham said. “That wasn’t it [on Sunday against the Patriots]. I was on a pitch count. I have to get back in the flow, and it’s a process.”
Even when he’s back in the flow, it won’t be easy. The Dolphins have Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. They also are still trying to get their quarterback situation under control.
For now, they’re on a bye. They face the Colts in Indianapolis before potentially getting Tua Tagovailoa back for a game against the Cardinals.
Through it all, Beckham will be trying to get back to being the player he once was.