Why timing is right for NY Giants to sign Odell Beckham Jr. now

EAST RUTHERFORD - Odell Beckham Jr. and the New York Giants have been flirting with each other for nearly two months about a potential reunion. John Harbaugh called Beckham "one of my very favorite people in the world," having coached him for a year in Baltimore.

Beckham wants more than anything to bring his NFL career full circle by catching passes from Jaxson Dart and providing a generation of Giants fans who never had the chance to say thank you and good-bye with that opportunity all these years later. All of the above makes for a great story. But it's not solely why the second marriage of Beckham and the Giants should happen.

The time is now for the Giants to sign Beckham not for nostalgia, but because they need each other. The Giants hope Malik Nabers is on the field and ready to go for Week 1, but it's an uncertain timetable as he recovers from ACL surgery. Darius Slayton is out until training camp after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia.

A rehabbing Cam Skattebo is still working his way back from the dislocated ankle that ended his rookie season. Tight ends Isaiah Likely and Theo Johnson were Dart's most impressive targets in the third OTA (offseason team activity) on Thursday. Newcomers Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin will get chances, but neither has a defined role just yet.