Odell Beckham Jr. comes full circle by making the New York Giants' 53-man roster

Odell Beckham Jr. made the New York Giants’ 53-man roster submitted Sunday, a significant milestone in the wide receiver's comeback at age 33 with the team he started his NFL career with.

Beckham got better as training camp progressed and showed in exhibition play that he could still produce. He made seven catches for 76 yards over three games, including three for 53 in the preseason finale against the Jets on Friday night.

“I feel like I gave everything I had,” Beckham said afterward. “I’m just truly grateful for that opportunity, that experience. It was a tough couple years, taking a step back and deciding, do you go forward with life? Are you done? The mental battles that we go through and just push through, persevere and overcome adversity.”

Coach John Harbaugh said Beckham had a good camp, with the final week of practices being his best.

“He’s looked good and made numerous plays,” Harbaugh said.

Beckham was out of football last season, including time spent serving a six-game suspension for failing a performance-enhancing drug test. His last game was Dec. 8, 2024, with Miami, when he played nine games for the Dolphins and had nine catches for 55 yards before getting waived on Dec. 13.

After not catching on anywhere and serving the suspension, Beckham began ramping back up this past spring. He worked out for the Giants in April, signed in June and acknowledged after one of his first offseason workouts that he would have to earn a roster spot.

Asked after the Jets game what he would mean, Beckham said, “Everything.”

“Seeing my son at the game, yelling, just looking at me, and he told one of his friends: ‘Yeah, people always want to take a picture of my dad. He must be the best,’” Beckham said. “And it just made me laugh because I just want to show him. I want to lead the way. I want to be a good example for him.”

A season-ending knee injury to Calvin Austin opened the door for Beckham and return specialist Braxton Berrios, who is being released but is expected to be brought back before the season opener Sept. 13 against Dallas. If he plays that night, it will be Beckham's first home game in a Giants uniform since Dec. 2, 2018.

Drafted 12th by the Giants in 2014, Beckham spent his first five professional seasons with them before getting traded to Cleveland in 2019. He eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving four times with New York.

After going through camp wearing No. 3, Beckham is also expected to get his familiar No. 13 back after wideout Jalin Hyatt was cut following parts of three seasons with zero touchdown catches.

Hyatt, a third-round selection in 2023, was not the only high draft pick from recent years released. Offensive lineman Evan Neal, taken seventh overall in 2022 and surprisingly re-signed for a new coaching staff to make its own determination, did not make the roster even after fellow guards Daniel Faalele and Josh Ezeudu got traded.

Veteran Darius Slayton joined Beckham, Malik Nabers, Darnell Mooney and rookie Malachi Fields as the five receivers who made it.

AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. contributed to this report.

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New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) makes a catch while warming up before a preseason NFL football game against the New York Jets, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) warms up on the field before a preseason NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) walk on the field after a preseason NFL football game against the New York Jets, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. can't make the catch during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the New York Jets, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) can't make the catch during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the New York Jets, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department is preventing certain journalists from covering a finance meeting among the world's most powerful countries, the latest example of how President Donald Trump's administration has restricted media access.

Individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg were not granted credentials to the Group of 20 finance ministerial in Asheville, North Carolina, the Times reported.

The Treasury has not explained the decision. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Associated Press in an interview Sunday that “it has nothing to do with point of view.”

The reporters who've been denied access include the Times' Alan Rappeport, who has been covering such meetings and the Treasury Department since 2017. However, another reporter for the Times, Berlin bureau chief Jim Tankersley, is allowed to attend.

The Times said in a statement that denying American journalists access to an event in the U.S. is “not just another disturbing effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny.”

“With the war in Iran, sanctions, the bond markets, and inflation on the agenda for the G20 finance ministers, the stakes of this gathering are significant for the global economy and the American people,” the Times said. "Excluding specific reporters and entire news organizations is a disservice to the public and an assault on press freedoms that we strongly condemn.”

Bloomberg News said denying access to the meeting “undermines media freedom and public accountability.”

The Wall Street Journal declined to comment.

Bessent is hosting the G20 meeting, which runs Saturday through Tuesday. It includes finance ministers, central bank governors and senior officials from the world's top economies. This year's G20 summit, which involves heads of state, is being held in December at Trump's golf club in Doral, Florida.

Tensions have been escalating between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, playing out both in the public arena and at times in the courts.

For example, the Defense Department declared earlier this year that its press office had become a classified space inaccessible to journalists. The ouster came after the Pentagon had demanded that reporters agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, prompting most news outlets to leave the building last fall.

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Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Asheville, N.C., contributed to this report.

FILE - A sign for The New York Times hangs above the entrance to its building in New York, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent departs after speaking at a news conference, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)