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Details of the Giants’ dinner with Odell Beckham Jr. Thursday night were sparse and if you were looking for answers Friday from the free-agent receiver’s close friend, he did not have them.
“You’re all crowded around me, but I know just about as much as you all do,” said Sterling Shepard, who played three seasons with OBJ and spent time with his friend Thursday night after the receiver’s business dinner with Giants coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.
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“We really didn’t talk too much about (the business) stuff,” Shepard said. “I’m not going to be poking and prodding at him. He’s going to do what’s best for his family and I’m totally with him on that.”
Shepard, who is out for the season with a torn ACL, has made it clear more than once that he wants Beckham to return to the Giants and he was more than happy to do so again Friday.
“I told him it would be a special thing if he came back here,” Shepard said. “The city would definitely be happy about that. It would be like old times.”
OBJ’s response?
“He was like, ‘Dang right about that,’ ” Shepard said.
For now, however, Beckham is continuing his free-agent tour. He had a scheduled stop Friday night in Buffalo to meet with the Bills and Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys are prepared to host the three-time Pro Bowler Monday.
Daboll opened his news conference Friday by confirming the team’s dinner with Beckham, but offered little — very, very little — in the way of details.
“We had dinner with him last night,” the coach said. “We had a good visit. Really, other than that, I have nothing else to add. My focus is on Washington.”
Attempts to extract more information out of Daboll were futile.
Is the door still open for OBJ to sign with the Giants?
“I’ll just say we had a good dinner,” Daboll said.
What did you eat?
“I had a great steak,” the coach said.
How rare and unusual was it to be meeting with a free agent in the midst of a playoff push?
“All my time is on Washington,” Daboll said. “I just got a free meal.”
Daboll was determined to make sure the OBJ visit did not become a distraction for his 7-4 team with a critical game against the 7-5 Washington Commanders on the schedule Sunday. Win and the Giants have a much clearer path to their first postseason trip since 2016. Lose and they will be in last place, sitting on a three-game losing streak with the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles coming to town the following Sunday.
Running back Saquon Barkley insisted that Beckham’s visit was not a distraction.
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“We were aware of it,” he said. “We know. It’s Odell Beckham Jr., but the only time we really had to talk about it is when we have to talk to (the media). If we were too focused about ‘Oh is Odell coming or not?’ how would we be in the right mindset to go play against an NFC East division opponent that’s 6-1 in their last seven games? That’s the focus. You’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing.
“Like I said, I would love for Odell to come, but the main thing is to continue to finish the season off strong and playing meaningful games in December We’ve got to find a way to win these games.”
They will not be getting any help from OBJ in that regard Sunday.
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Bob Brookover can be reached at rbrookover@njadvancemedia.com.
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