Fantasy Football’s Most Dangerous: Odell Beckham Jr.

What a year it was for Odell Beckham Jr. The rookie out of LSU made such a major impact in the NFL in what could best be described as season that started off on a bad foot, but only got better. By the end of the season, Beckham was the most valuable wide receiver in the league.

The Giants’ selected Beckham with the 12^th overall pick in the 2014 draft. In training camp, the rookie wide out suffered a severe hamstring injury. This injury would force him to sit out the entire preseason and the first four games of the season. Giants’ fans quickly became tired with Beckham because they felt that he was not making necessary efforts in order to see the field. This anger reached its peak after week 4. However, the fan base would soon forget they were ever mad at this kid.

In week 5, Beckham made his rookie debut against the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons had a horrible defense in the 2014 season. There really was not a better chance for Beckham to prove his doubters wrong. In his first game, he caught four passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. The following week he only caught two passes and failed to score. This did not help the fan’s confidence.

However following a week eight bye, Odell Beckham Jr. would explode and never look back. In week nine he caught eight passes and had the first 100 yard receiving game of the year. Over the next eight games, Beckham would post seven 100 plus yard days.

For fantasy football owners, Beckham’s season will be remembered by just four games. In the last four weeks of the season, the fantasy football playoffs, Beckham showed that he was a true standout wide receiver. Over those games he tallied 605 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.

Beckham ended the 2014 season with 91 catches for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns. Keep in mind he missed four games and was still hampered by his hamstring injury for the first seven weeks of the season. Obviously, this kid will be highly sought after in fantasy drafts going into the 2015 season.

One major question looms over Beckham. Fantasy owners want to know how he is going to follow up his 2014 Pro Bowl season. It is very easy to see him once again being one of the most dominant wide receivers in the NFL. However, there is always the chance for the sophomore slump.

Due to the amount of time he missed in 2014, injury concerns also must be taken into account when deciding on whether or not to spend a second round draft pick on Beckham. Nobody wants their star wide receiver missing time.

In Beckham’s case, the rewards involved with coughing up a very high draft pick greatly out ways the risks. This kid has the potential to be the best wide receiver in the NFL. Had he played the entire 2014 season, we would probably be saying he is the best wide receiver in the NFL. The chance of him repeating his performance over that final four game stretch is low, but throughout the course of the 2015 season, there is no reason why he cannot repeat the same stat line he posted throughout the entire 2014 season. Those stats are good enough to make him a top five wide receiver. However, the chance of him having and even better year this year is even greater than a simply repeat. There should be no doubt that Beckham will be worth his hefty draft day price tag. More than likely, next year at this time we will be saying he is at least a top three wide receiver.