The Minnesota Vikings are 4-0, one of three unbeaten teams left in the NFL. They are also dead last in the league in passing yards at 156.0 per game and 31st in total offense at 262.8. Their answer, with Justin Jefferson’s ankle still a question, was to sign a 33-year-old receiver the New York Giants released last week.
Odell Beckham Jr. joined Minnesota’s practice squad on Wednesday. If he gets elevated to the active roster, the Vikings become the sixth NFL team he has played for. He appeared in the Giants’ first three games this season and was thrown at exactly once.
Justin Jefferson Is Thrilled. That Does Not Make It a Plan.
Jefferson, 27, grew up watching Beckham and followed him to LSU, so his reaction at Wednesday’s press conference was easy to predict. “It’s definitely cool,” Jefferson said, and he described the two of them as having “been brothers for a very, very long time.” He added that Beckham called him the night before to share how excited he was about coming to Minnesota.
Good story. Still not an offense. Jefferson missed the Week 4 win over Miami with an ankle sprain and has 13 catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the three games he did play. If he cannot go Sunday at New Orleans, the Vikings need a receiver who can actually win a route, and Beckham has not been that for a long time.
He tore an ACL and sat out all of 2022. He bounced from Cleveland to the Rams to Baltimore to Miami, and he was not on an NFL roster at any point in 2025. His three Pro Bowls came in 2014, 2015 and 2016. That is a full decade ago in a league where receivers age in dog years.
The Bigger Problem Is at Quarterback
Minnesota has four passing touchdowns in four games. Three belong to Carson Wentz and one to Kyler Murray, who was named the Week 1 starter before a concussion cost him time. Kevin O’Connell has won every single week anyway, which is the strangest part of this team: a 4-0 record built on almost nothing through the air.
That is why the Beckham move reads as a free swing rather than a fix. Practice squad deals cost nothing, carry no commitment and can be undone on a Tuesday. If Beckham looks like he has anything left, Minnesota elevates him for a week and finds out in real game conditions. If he does not, nobody has to explain anything.
What This Says About Minnesota’s Receiver Room
Teams that trust their depth do not call a receiver who was out of football a year ago. The Vikings are winning with defense and field position while their passing game produces less than any offense in the sport, and the front office clearly knows the margin there is paper thin without Jefferson on the field.
The schedule gives them a soft landing. New Orleans at 1 p.m. on Sunday is the kind of game a 4-0 team should handle even with a thin receiver group. The reckoning comes later, when Minnesota has to score in the twenties against somebody good and finds out whether 156 yards a game was a style choice or a ceiling.
Beckham deserves credit for still wanting it at 33. He also does not change the math here. The Vikings need Jefferson healthy far more than they need a reunion.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
