After Odell Beckham wrapped up his rookie season with 91 receptions, 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns in just 12 games, Around The NFL's Conor Orr suggested the Giants wide receiver is the most electrifying football player to thrill New York since the glory days of Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor.
Giants president and CEO John Mara echoed that sentiment on Tuesday, via NFL Media's Kimberly Jones, acknowledging that he would have to go back to Taylor's first season to remember being so excited about a rookie.
It's fair to posit that coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese are even more excited, considering Beckham's emergence as the most unstoppable receiver in football bought them at least another year with the organization.
How does Beckham stack up against a young Taylor?
By the end of Taylor's first training camp, teammates were calling him Superman and suggesting his locker should be replaced with a phone booth.
His dominant rookie season led directly to the establishment of the sack as an official statistic a year later.
Taylor went on to create the edge-rushing linebacker phenomenon and turned left tackle into one of the most sought after and highest-paid positions, as illustrated in Michael Lewis' The Blind Side.
In his first nine games as a fulltime NFL starter after Victor Cruz was lost for the season, Beckham averaged nine receptions, 133 yards a touchdown per game, numbers no wide receiver in NFL history has ever reached in a full season.
In addition to joining Hall of Famer Michael Irvin as the only players ever to record at least 90 yards in nine consecutive games, Beckham's 606 yards in December are the most by any rookie in one calendar month.
As impressive as Randy Moss' rookie season was, Beckham generated more receptions and just 7 fewer yards in four fewer games.
"I haven't seen a young receiver like this explode this way without much practice time in my entire life," NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock raved a couple of weeks ago.
Before Beckham turned in the catch of the year in late November, Around The NFL compared the league's latest sensation to a young Michael Jordan for his graceful quick-twitch athleticism, vice-grip hands, rare ball skills, easy leaping ability and improvisational creativity.
Although those hands are now legendary, NFL Media analyst Nate Burleson pointed out on the Dave Dameshek Football Program last week that what separates Beckham is his short-range quickness, precision route-running and explosiveness even on plays in which he is not targeted.
Already the most talented player on the field every time he hits the gridiron, Beckham has a chance to join Taylor and Frank Gifford as the most storied players in franchise history if he avoids debilitating injuries.
"When Victor Cruz gets back," NFL Media's Deion Sanders said Sunday on NFL GameDay Final, "I can't wait to see what's going to transpire in New York."
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