John Harbaugh, Odell Beckham Jr. have talked about Giants return: 'Certainly we have'

PHOENIX — John Harbaugh and Odell Beckham Jr. have discussed a possible New York Giants reunion. They text frequently.

Maybe it will happen. Maybe it won’t. But it’s come up.

“The obvious answer would be you look at every option, and if Odell’s an option, we’ll be looking at it, for sure,” Harbaugh said at the Arizona Biltmore on Monday morning. “He and I do talk, and we do text. We’ve maintained a really good relationship. He’s one of my very favorite people in the world.

“It’s not like you don’t talk to guys about things like that. Certainly we have,” the head coach added. “We’ll just have to see where it all goes, what’s best for him, what’s best for the Giants. That’s the number one thing is it’s what’s best for our team, and any player, if he helps you be a better team and can make you better, then you’re gonna pursue that. So we’ll just have to see where it goes.”

Beckham, 33, has not played in an NFL game since 2024 for the Miami Dolphins. But he wants to play again, and he hasn’t been shy about making clear that he would love to run it back in New York.

He played for Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens in 2023 prior to his stop in South Beach, so signing with the Giants would be a reunion with both the football team and Harbaugh as his head coach.

Beckham rekindled hype around his highlight reel talents with a one-handed touchdown catch at the Fanatics Flag Football Classic recently. And Giants co-owner John Mara — who is in attendance at the 2026 NFL owners meetings — has spoken several times since trading Beckham to Cleveland in March 2019 about how strong an affinity he still has for OBJ.

Signing a player like Beckham who does not play special teams to a one-year, low-cost contract wouldn’t be the normal allocation of those assets on an NFL roster. But Beckham’s supernova early Giants career keeps him beloved in the Big Apple.

Beckham’s intention was to play here for a long time. He signed a major contract extension in 2018 shortly before Dave Gettleman traded him away in March 2019.

Maybe now Harbaugh and Beckham can collaborate to make some of that right, help Beckham go out on a high note with the franchise that drafted him and help the Giants get back on track as an organization.

Harbaugh has love for love

Harbaugh did not hide his affinity for Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, who is an option for the Giants with the No. 5 overall pick. He was asked if he agreed that Love is a good player.

“Yes, I do,” he said. “I’d probably put very, very good player. Put a couple ‘very’s in front of it. Maybe a couple more. He’s very good.”

Harbaugh said you “recognize” the business side of drafting a running back that high when making a final decision, but he said the driving force behind the Giants’ decision will be their football on their field — and getting a player who helps them win.

“The business is football,” Harbaugh said. “We are a football business. That’s what we do. And we’re trying to make our fans happy. We want to win games. We want to be successful. We want them to come out to the stadium and be happy after the game, be celebrating.

“And to do that,” he continued, “we’ve got to build the very best team we can. So you build the best team you can with the best players you can get. And you put them out there and let them play. That’s where it starts.”

Not opposed to trading back

The Ravens, Harbaugh’s former organization, believe in acquiring maximum draft capital to take more swings in the college pool. Harbaugh was asked what his appetite is for possibly trading back from No. 5 to get a player plus more assets.

He said he’s open to it, but the Giants will have to strategize and be prepared for all scenarios. There will no doubt be players they intend to pick at No. 5 if they’re still on the board.

“It’s the opportunity as it presents itself,” Harbaugh said. “So we definitely would be interested in that. I think there’s no way you could ever say, ‘Oh, no way we could ever do that.’ There might be player you’d never trade way from. That’s part of the strategy, and you’ve got to kind of work the math out on all that.

“I believe Joe [Schoen] will do an amazing job with his staff of exactly what the details are of what it would take to trade away from each person in each scenario for our team,” he added. “We’ll talk about that and finalize that probably a day or two or three before the draft and just have that ready. And we’ll know what we’re willing to do and what we’re not willing to do. And that’ll be our plan.”

Harbaugh also said no matter what the Giants plan, it also comes down to having a willing trade partner. He observed Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and GMs Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta navigate those waters for a long time.

“I’ve heard Eric and Steve say it all the time, Ozzie say it: Then you look at the phone as your time comes up, sometimes it rings, sometimes it doesn’t,” Harbaugh said with a smile. “So we’ll see what happens.”

Mara attends meetings

Mara represented the Giants at this owners’ meetings. He did not travel with the Giants on the road last season due to his cancer battle, and although he attended Harbaugh’s introductory press conference, Mara spoke for ownership and the team that day.

Co-owner Steve Tisch’s scandal and documented association with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has destabilized an already murky ownership situation. So Mara’s presence is steadying if not necessary.

Tisch and his family also are offloading their remaining shares to their children’s trusts in the wake of his scandal, so it is understandable why Mara’s voice is needed especially now in this trying time for the franchise.

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