Odell Beckham Jr. reflects on route taken to get to Super Bowl

Every wide receiver knows the best route is not always a straight one.

Sure, it’d be great if you could just sprint from point A to B unobstructed, but the way to get to where you want to be often requires turns, cuts, jukes and, yes, overcoming obstacles.

As Odell Beckham Jr. readies himself for a Super Bowl appearance with the Rams next Sunday, he said he is thinking about the route he has run to this place in his career and his life.

A story that began with glorious one-handed catches, a record-setting rookie year and the promise of becoming the most dominant and electrifying Giants player since Lawrence Taylor quickly devolved into chaos and disappointment.

There was the lackluster performance in his playoff debut bookended by an ill-timed cruise to Miami with teammates and a hole punched in the wall outside the locker room at Lambeau Field. Then the dream of his prominence with the Giants shattered much like his ankle in 2017, when he suffered the first serious injury of his career.

"It’s been tough, rough," he said of the time since that moment when everything started to fall apart for him physically and — though he did not know it at the time — professionally.

He rehabbed from that injury, signed an extension with the Giants, was traded to the Browns, tore his ACL, rehabbed that injury and was released in the middle of this season.

"Busting my [butt], coming back time and time again, things just never went the way that I would have liked," he said.

But at his lowest point, he had something of a vision.

"When I was sitting at home and there was nothing but silence and just me and God sitting there, this is what came over me: It was the Los Angeles Rams and the opportunity to do exactly what we are doing right now," he said.

Finally, he was open on his route.

"It’s pretty crazy to me, just the power of manifestation, belief, faith, all those things, to be exactly where I am at right now with an opportunity to win a Super Bowl," he said. "Playing in the Super Bowl is everything you could have ever dreamed of."

Many Giants fans will remember Beckham as an impetuous, overreacting lightning rod who created more headaches for the team than he solved. He was always beloved by his teammates, but his immaturity rankled coaches and management to the point that he had to be traded.

These days, under the perpetually blue Los Angeles skies, that manchild is unrecognizable. Now 29, Beckham has been humbled to his knees and lifted back up anew. He has evolved into an adult and is expecting his firstborn child any day.

"He is a perfect example of perception vs. reality," Rams safety Eric Weddle said. "One of the best dudes I’ve ever been around. He’s just a dude that gives it all. Every day in practice, in the workout, in the meetings, he’s just a joy to be around."

That’s not to say he has left his showmanship and confidence behind completely; it’s that he has learned to channel it in a positive direction. With the Rams, he has been allowed to do exactly that.

"He’s such a special player, so smart, so talented, so gifted," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "He’s brought such a charisma and presence and really a swag to our team. I love Odell."

Beckham was signed by the Rams in mid-November to give them an extra jolt toward a Super Bowl. The team already had Cooper Kupp as its primary passing target, and when DeSean Jackson demanded to be traded or released (he was released) and Robert Woods tore his ACL in a practice, they needed someone who could parachute in and become a weapon.

In the eight regular-season games Beckham played for the Rams, he caught 27 passes for 305 yards and five touchdowns. In his three playoff games for them, he has caught 19 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown.

He’s learned, it seems, to avoid the missteps of his early career. This time there have been no boat trips, no shenanigans, no nothing other than football. He has people around him who are handling the hype of the Super Bowl, organizing ticket distribution and travel plans for family and friends.

"I’m locking in," he said. "I don’t have the time to do this or that. I just have one goal to focus on."

Even when former teammates reach out to him to wish him well, he said he barely notices it.

"You definitely feel the love,'' he said, "but it’s hard for me to even hear anything right now because I feel like I’m just right here and locked in."

What will he do in the Super Bowl, the stage on which he has been waiting his whole life to perform?

Whatever it is, it will be big. That’s the one thing that hasn’t changed about Beckham, the radiance of his stardom. He burst into the NFL, was involved in humongous off-the-field storms, made costly misplays in his playoff debut for the Giants, suffered catastrophic injuries and found himself headlining some of the wildest transactions teams have made in the past decade.

There is nothing small or demure about anything Beckham does. This biggest game of his life doesn’t figure to be the first time he downsizes.

Beckham has run the route. He’s got a step on the pitfalls that have been defending him. The ball is in the air, about to meet him in the end zone.

"It was that faith, staying down, staying prayed up, never doubting or not believing in yourself that makes this very special for me to have an opportunity to win a Super Bowl," he said. "You sacrifice it all just for these moments. I know the opportunity that is at hand. I don’t take it lightly, and I’m just going to find a way to give my very best for one more game."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.