The New York Giants will enter the 2026 season with a promising core of players on both sides of the ball.
The Giants added significant talent at wide receiver this offseason. New York signed Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin III to one-year deals and drafted former Notre Dame standout Malachi Fields. The team has also been linked to veteran receiver Odell Beckham Jr., with a reunion between the former Giants star and the franchise potentially materializing in 2026.
Beckham was nothing short of a superstar during his time with the Giants from 2014 to 2018. His tenure in New York took a turn for the worse following the infamous 2017 boat photo, when Beckham and several other receivers made a questionable trip to Miami ahead of the team’s wild-card playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
Legendary Giants quarterback Eli Manning recently shared his thoughts on the boat photo and the Miami trip, telling Bussin’ With The Boys that the entire weekend was a poor look for the players involved and the organization as a whole.
OBJ and the Giants WRs flew to Miami to party on a boat with Justin Beiber and Trey Songz after beating the Redskins pic.twitter.com/TzV2Ym0I1D
— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) January 2, 2017
“Honestly, I don’t think they were prepared to go to Miami. They were all wearing jeans and Timberlands,” Manning said. “I think it was a last-second deal. They went out all night. It’s just a bad look. It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re in the playoffs, we want to make a run, but first let’s go to Miami on a Sunday night or Monday and stay up all night.’ It’s just the psyche around it. It’s playoff time — let’s take it up another notch, be more focused and serious. Not let’s go party in Miami.”
Beckham served as Manning’s primary receiver throughout his four-year tenure in New York. The boat photo has continued to haunt fans since the moment it surfaced, and the Giants have posted a 45-106-1 record in the years following the viral incident (including playoffs).
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants legend Eli Manning breaks years-long silence on infamous Miami boat photo