Odell Beckham needs to lead the Giants to a championship to be 'legendary' | Politi

Now that Odell Beckham Jr. has signed his record-setting contract with the Giants, a moment he said "you kind of dream about your entire life," we interrupt his celebration with some bad news:

Nobody cares about the contract.

Oh, the Giants care, sort of. Pat Shurmur did his best to stifle a yawn and acknowledge that he's glad the whole thing is over. John Mara did the same after admitting that the Giants wanted to see "the right attitude" before getting the deal done.

The players danced in the locker room, because A) they like to dance and B) they no doubt hope they're next.

But, for the most part, this moment will do little to change Beckham's life or how people see him. The $65 million guaranteed is a record for a wide receiver, for a few months at least, but even a big fat number like that isn't a big deal in this market.

Didn't A-Rod once sign for the GNP of a small Central American country? The Mets are still paying Bobby Bonilla, for crying out loud, so it takes a hell of a lot more to impress us.

The contract won't define Beckham. The contract won't make him "legendary," which he said remains his goal in life. The contract only gives him the opportunity to do the one thing that will forever change how people in the New York market view him as an athlete.

Win.

That's it for Beckham. He'll either be remembered as an otherworldly talented player who made acrobatic one-hand catches and silly celebrations a part of our lives every weekend, or he'll be canonized as a superstar who delivered a fifth Lombardi Trophy to East Rutherford.

Win.

It isn't all that complicated. Beckham has a chance to go down in history along names like Lawrence Taylor, Phil Simms and his current teammate, Eli Manning, but that only happens if he leads this franchise down the Canyon of Heroes with confetti falling from the sky.

"Honestly, it sounds crazy enough, but I don't think I've done anything really since I've been here," Beckham said during his 15-minute press conference on Tuesday, and before going any further, let's be clear -- this is not crazy.

"I have goals for myself. I don't think I have truly been able to achieve them even with the success that I've had," he continued. "Before I was even in the NFL, I wanted to be legendary.

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"Yeah, the money is great, you can take care of your family, you can take care of kids one day that you'll possibly have, but my goal was always to be in the Hall of Fame, to win trophies, to be able to leave a legacy that will be remembered way past any money that you make."

That's about as good an answer as Beckham has given to a question since the Giants drafted him.

He was already on a bust-in-Canton pace before his ankle injury wrecked last season. After just 47 regular-season games, he is 10th on the Giants' career list with 313 receptions and 38 touchdowns. He will completely own the team's record book if he stays healthy.

And, to be clear, he is healthy. Shurmur, in answering what roughly was the 5,714th question about Beckham's ankle this summer, again offered assurances that the receiver will be 100 percent when Jacksonsville and his pal Jalen Ramsey come to town.

Everything is in place for him to have another monster year. Beckham is still just 25. He will play out his prime in a Giants uniform thanks to this contract, and that means he will almost certainly become the undisputed face of the franchise in the process with Manning unlikely to play that long.

L.T. Simms. Eli.

Odell?

"That's a great list to be mentioned in," Beckham said. "To be able to be mentioned with those guys and hopefully be able to do things that they did, hang up banners - that's always the goal."

It's refreshing to hear him say that. The contract and everything about it, the waiting for it to get here and the wondering about its size, have dominated the storylines around him for so long now.

But now that is literally yesterday's news. The day he put pen to paper to sign that deal will be lost to history by everyone but his accountant. Money is great, but it isn't a legacy and it certainly doesn't make him a legend.

Only winning will.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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