Odell considered retirement before signing with Ravens

Odell Beckham Jr. said he considered retiring from the NFL before signing with the Baltimore Ravens this year.

"I went through a lot the last couple of years, and I thought it was over," the star wide receiver recently said, according to Dan Pompei of The Athletic. "I didn't want to get back up on the horse and do the same song and dance all over again."

Beckham didn't play last season after suffering a torn ACL in Super Bowl LVI as a member of the Los Angeles Rams. The 30-year-old visited multiple teams before signing a one-year, $15-million contract with the Ravens in April.

"If I'm honest, I was resistant," he said. "There were other places I wanted to go. I wasn't necessarily a Ravens fan - because the Ravens always whipped my ass."

Beckham spent his first five NFL seasons with the New York Giants, earning a Pro Bowl berth in each of his first three years. The team then traded the first-round pick to the Cleveland Browns in 2019. He failed to meet expectations across two-plus seasons with the club.

Beckham is now part of a Ravens team that heads into the 2023 campaign with lofty ambitions.

"I'm thinking like this is my last year," Beckham added. "I'm going to give it my all this year. And then if something happens after that, we can go from there."

Baltimore re-signed quarterback Lamar Jackson to a lucrative multi-year deal this offseason and gave him multiple new weapons. In addition to Beckham, the Ravens drafted wide receiver Zay Flowers in the first round.