The Internet Won’t Stop Talking About Odell Beckham Jr.’s Face

Odell Beckham Jr. aka OBJ spent most of the summer trying to prove there was still a place for him in the NFL — and more specifically, with the franchise where everything started. The 33-year-old receiver signed with the New York Giants in June, returning to the team that selected him No. 12 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft after seven years away. With no guaranteed roster spot waiting for him, Beckham went through training camp and the preseason fighting for one of New York’s final receiver jobs.

OBJ seemingly did enough. He caught seven passes for 76 yards across three preseason games, including three catches for 53 yards in the Giants’ preseason finale against the Jets. Afterward, head coach John Harbaugh said Beckham had done enough to make “an NFL roster,” even if he stopped short at the time of guaranteeing that roster would be New York’s. On Sunday, August 30, the Giants made it official, keeping Beckham as one of the five wide receivers on their initial 53-man roster alongside Malik Nabers, Malachi Fields, Darnell Mooney and Daris Slayton.

That should have been the biggest OBJ story of the weekend. Instead, social media had another question: What happened to his face? A video of Beckham speaking with reporters began making the rounds after he talked about wanting to finally win a championship for the Giants, but plenty of viewers barely seemed to hear what he was saying. They were too busy dissecting his noticeably different appearance. TMZ picked up on the viral conversation as people across social media wondered why Beckham didn’t quite look like the OBJ they remembered.