Odell Beckham Jr. provided Ravens fans a familiar sight before his debut with the team.
As he came through the tunnel onto the field at M&T Bank Stadium ahead of the Ravens’ Week 1 clash against the Texans on Sunday afternoon, Beckham paid homage to Ray Lewis, the team’s legendary linebacker.
Beckham performed Lewis’ iconic entrance dance, shuffling side to side before kicking his left leg up and sprinting onto the field.
The brash Lewis made the “squirrel dance” iconic, routinely performing it before home games.
Beyond his first game with the Ravens, it is Beckham’s first appearance since tearing his ACL during Super Bowl 2022 while with the Rams.
He did not play all of last season, and signed a one-year deal worth up to $18 million with Baltimore this off-season.
“As far as excitement, I feel like this is my first game,” the 30-year-old Beckham told reporters ahead of his Ravens debut. “The whole thing feels like a reset for me. There’s been a lot of deja vu moments of little things that’s happened, that just kind of feels reminiscent of my rookie year. Just the feeling of excitement that I have to play football, and a new opportunity, a new life.
“It’s been a long time in my mind, it’s been a long time in reality. I don’t know what emotions will be running through me. I know I’ll be excited to play football again.”
While Beckham appears to now be a fan of Lewis, the latter was formerly one of Beckham’s more vocal critics earlier in his career.
“Odell has removed God from his life,” Lewis said on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd in 2018. “This is a kid that grew up under the covenant of who God really is, and everything that he’s doing, he’s crying out for help.
“I started to see, he started to distance himself a little more, a little more and a little more,” Lewis added.
“Just listen to me, Colin: I don’t care about religion. I’m talking about a foundation. When your foundation is disturbed, when everything you’re doing is the opposite of what’s got you to this place, then you’re making your own bed hard.”
Lewis was also critical of Beckham’s involvement in the Giants’ infamous boat picture ahead of the team’s wild card loss to the Packers in 2017.
It appears they’re now on good terms, however.
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