Odell Beckham Jr. understands he has to earn a roster spot with the Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Odell Beckham Jr. does not expect to have a roster spot handed to him after returning to the New York Giants.

“I know I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Beckham said Wednesday after his first offseason workout practice with the team since signing Monday. “I came here to earn anything. Everything in my life, nothing was given to me. I came here to earn it, work hard every day and be the best I can for the team.”

Beckham, 33, worked out for the Giants in April, and coach John Harbaugh said the conditions would have to be right for a reunion. Returner/receiver Gunner Olszewski tearing his right Achilles tendon last week precipitated the move to bring in Beckham, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios.

“Try to be aggressive and give ourselves as many opportunities as we possibly can to have the strongest roster we can,” Harbaugh said. “They’ll be competing for roles. They’ll be competing for their opportunity, just like everybody else. Let’s see how it goes.”

There is significant uncertainty at the position, with Malik Nabers working to rehab a torn ACL in his right knee. There is lingering doubt about Nabers being ready for the season opener Sept. 13 against Dallas.

Beckham making the team is no guarantee, but this isn't just about nostalgia in New York after getting drafted by the Giants in 2014 and spending his first five NFL seasons with them. He has not played a game in the league since Dec. 8, 2024, with Miami after serving a six-game suspension last year for failing a performance-enhancing drug test.

He took time away from football and has been working out since to get in optimum shape.

“I still love this game so much,” Beckham said. “Felt great being out there, being back in the building, on this field. Looking at this stadium, it’s a pretty surreal feeling.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. speaks to the media after an NFL football practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) makes a catch during an NFL football practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) runs drills next to wide receiver Xavier Gipson (88) during an NFL football practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) makes a catch during an NFL football practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) reacts during an NFL football practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A Sherpa guide was found crawling to base camp on Mount Everest a week after he went missing, and was reunited with his family who had given up hope he would return.

Dawa Sherpa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not make it to base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.

Dawa was located by a cleaning crew Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which was coordinating the search.

He was quickly carried down to safety and given food and water. A rescue helicopter flew him to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter, who had already begun funeral rituals for him, were waiting.

"We first heard that he was still alive on the local news and from a person we know who called with the news that ... he is being brought down," his wife, Damu Sherpa, said.

Though Dawa had been missing since last week, there was a delay in organizing a search team. No reasons were given for the delay, but when helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him.

His family had already given up hope. Dawa’s teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, said they were already on the second day of a funeral ritual, which lasts for several days.

“When we first heard about it (the rescue), we could not be sure if that person was indeed our father,” Mendo Lhamu said. “So to be certain we asked for photos to be sent and then only we were sure and very happy.”

The team that spotted him was part of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which lays the ladders and ropes on the route at the start of each climbing season and then removes the equipment and cleans up the site after the climbers have left.

Dawa, 52, works for a small Kathmandu-based company called Himalayan Traverse, and he was guiding a Polish climber. He comes from the town of Okhaldhunga, south of Everest.

More than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this May, which was the busiest climbing season ever on the world's highest mountain. It began late because of a massive ice block on the route just above the base camp that took about two weeks to clear.

The 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) high peak was first climbed on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, for treatment after he arrived at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

A helicopter carrying Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, arrives at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, for treatment after he arrived at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Medics take Dawa Sherpa, a mountain guide who had been missing for several days in the Everest region, for treatment after he arrived at Grande Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)