Saturday open thread: Will Odell Beckham Jr. play vs. Lions?

The New York Giants are playing the guessing game with Odell Beckham Jr. Maybe they genuinely don’t know what his status will be for Monday night, but they certainly seem to be sending mixed signals. Whether that’s intentional or not remains to be seen.

Beckham returned to practice this week after an ankle injury in Week 2 of the preseason sidelined him for three weeks. It seemed like he was getting very close to playing this week, but then he dropped the bombshell that his ankle sprain is supposed to have a recovery time of 6-8 weeks. If that were the case, not only would Beckham miss this week’s game, but he could miss the next three or four games, too.

Beckham quickly clarified, though, saying recovery could be as little as four weeks or a long as 12, depending on the individual.

All that being said, we really don’t know where Beckham stands. He’s been limited in practice all week, but it’s unclear how much he’s participating in those practices. So today’s Question of the Day is:

Do you think Odell Beckham Jr. plays on Monday against the Detroit Lions?

My answer: Yes. The Giants don’t want to find themselves in a big hole here, and Beckham strikes me as the kind of guy that is so competitive, that he’ll risk his own health to play.

That being said, I don’t think Beckham will be anywhere near 100 percent on Monday. We saw what an ankle sprain can do to a player last year, when Ezekiel Ansah suffered one early in the season and never seemed to fully recover.

And that’s part of the reason why I believe Beckham will play. This is an injury that is going to linger no matter what, and he’ll likely have to deal with pain for at least the first half of the season. If he were to wait for the injury to completely pass, the Giants could already be in a huge hole by then.

That being said, if he aggravates the injury, it would be a disaster for New York. Because of “Monday Night Football,” they’ll have a short week for their next matchup, which just so happens to be a divisional trip to Philadelphia. If the Giants don’t want to risk falling in an 0-2 hole in the NFC East, they may want to give Beckham one more week of rest.

But I think both the Giants are too desperate on offense and Beckham too impatient to sit another week. I think we’ll see him suit up on Monday.

Your turn.