Odell Beckham Jr. makes long-awaited return to action in first practice with Ravens

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The applause hardly resembled the cacophony that erupted the last time Odell Beckham Jr. played, but as the ball connected with his gloves following a 5-yard slant route and he rolled to the ground, the smattering of Baltimore Ravens fans in attendance Tuesday let him know of their appreciation.

For Beckham, the team's prized offseason acquisition for quarterback Lamar Jackson, the Ravens' first mandatory minicamp practice was the first time that he had set foot on a football field in a formal setting since he helped the Los Angeles Rams win Super Bowl 56 in February 2022.

Beckham left that game a champion and with a torn left ACL that cost him the second half of that contest and led to him sitting out the entire 2022 season, as his flirtations with various clubs never coalesced into a contract and his free agency extended into March, when he and Baltimore agreed on a one-year, $15 million deal.

Before he put on his black helmet with a blue visor, black shorts and No. 3 jersey, Beckham downplayed how much Tuesday meant to him.

"I’ve been trying to not think about it so much because there’s been so many disappointments and I’ve been in a good mental space to where I’ve tried to downplay this, but I definitely think I’ll be excited to put a jersey on and go out and do the thing that you’ve done your whole life, that you love to do," Beckham said.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Beckham would be a "full-go" while expecting him to ramp up alongside other veterans. And although Beckham was excited to return to practice, he repeated multiple times that the goal is to be ready for maximum effort during training camp and September when Week 1 arrives.

"It all comes down to what you do on the field during the season," Beckham said.

For now, Beckham is accepting where he's at, but the outlook is almost all positive.

"It feels good to be able to get out of bed and not feel pain," said Beckham, who enters 2023 with four 1,000-yard seasons and 56 career touchdowns. "It feels good to feel like if I need to take off running right now, I could take off running. It’s been a long journey this time around and it was its own process, so I just had to take that for what it was."

Harbaugh said the Beckham situation reminds him of Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens joining the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004, when the coach was the team's special teams coordinator. Nobody worked harder in practice than "T.O.," Harbaugh said, and that everything he had heard about Beckham was that he was a "big-time" practice player.

"(Owens) came to special teams meetings," Harbaugh said. "I mean, he was into football. To me, those kinds of guys reach that level for a reason."

Beckham didn't enter minicamp with an ideal number of repetitions in mind. Communication can be worked on with each play while watching, he said. As for developing chemistry with Jackson, the Louisiana native said he plans on traveling to South Florida before training camp for passing sessions.

Now on his fourth team in what will be his ninth season, Beckham has slowly started assuming a leadership role, or at least imparting some wisdom. Third-year wideout Rashod Bateman, sidelined still from lingering effects of a foot injury that cost him almost all of 2022, has spoken with Beckham about their respective comebacks.

"When you come back from being injured, there’s always that little bit of fear that you have to get over," said Beckham, who also tore his ACL in 2020 while with the Cleveland Browns.

The only way to mentally recover, Beckham said, was dive right in.

"There’s no way to go through it, except to do it," the 2014 Offensive Rookie of the Year said. "Now, I feel like after having surgery the first time, the second time it came around, there really was no fear. Because I already knew what I’d been through. So just get through it, I guess, it’s just a mentality."

Even with a ring, Beckham still harbors a bitterness for how he had to celebrate a Super Bowl victory on crutches and having not played in the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals. Heading into that game, his mother told him she'd never seen him more focused. He felt deeply that he was going to be the best player on his field.

"You know, it’s hard, you get to the pinnacle of success in this sport and you feel like it was taken away from you," Beckham said. "It wasn’t something that was easy to live with.

"It sucks. There's no other way around it. ... I didn't get to live out that moment."

Life happens though, Beckham added. Four days after his most recent ACL surgery, his son was born.

The time away from football allowed him to learn and grow. Still, there will be those who say Beckham's best playing days are behind him.

"The doubts (are) for whoever has them, to have them," Beckham said. "But that’s not what enters my body or my mind.

"I know what I can do."

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Odell Beckham Jr. makes long-awaited return in first action with Ravens