Vikings Sign Odell Beckham Jr. to Active Roster Hours Before Bills Game

The Minnesota Vikings signed wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to their 53-man roster on Monday, hours before they host the Buffalo Bills at U.S. Bank Stadium to close out Week 9. The team announced the move on Monday afternoon. Both teams are 6-1. Kickoff is at 7:15 p.m. CT, and the game will be simulcast on ABC and ESPN.

Beckham had been on Minnesota's practice squad since October 7, after the New York Giants released him on September 29. The Vikings elevated him once, for the Week 5 trip to New Orleans, but he did not play in that game. This time the move is permanent. In the same set of moves, Minnesota placed rookie running back Demond Claiborne on injured reserve and elevated safety Tavierre Thomas from the practice squad.

Why the move came now

Minnesota ruled out receiver Jauan Jennings with a calf injury for Monday's game, which left the receiver room thin behind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Beckham gives the Vikings a veteran who already knows the offense. He played for the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, when head coach Kevin O'Connell was the Rams offensive coordinator and Wes Phillips, now Minnesota's offensive coordinator, coached on the same staff.

He made that season count. Beckham joined the Rams in November 2021 and caught 21 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns in the playoffs, with one touchdown in Super Bowl LVI. Injuries and short stints followed, and he did not play in 2025. He came back this year with the Giants, the team that drafted him, before the September release sent him to Minnesota's practice squad.

When he signed with the practice squad in October, Beckham told Twin Cities reporters that O'Connell had reached out and made the move happen, and he said it is always good to be somewhere you are wanted. He also knows the team's star receiver. Beckham played at LSU with Jordan Jefferson, the older brother of Justin Jefferson, and he called the younger Jefferson a player with a chance to be one of the best to ever play the position.

What Minnesota needs from him

Beckham turned 34 on Thursday. His career totals are 575 catches for 7,987 yards and 59 touchdowns in 11 NFL seasons, and he has been picked for three Pro Bowls. Minnesota does not need the player who built those numbers with the Giants, Cleveland and the Rams. It needs a steady third receiver for a Monday night game against Buffalo, and maybe for the weeks after it.

Claiborne, the rookie sent to injured reserve, has a knee injury. He carried six times for 13 yards and caught two passes for eight yards in four games this season. Thomas played all 17 games for Minnesota in 2025, his first season with the club, and has been on the practice squad this season. At quarterback, Kyler Murray is out with a hamstring injury, and Carson Wentz is set to start for the Vikings.

The team has not said how much Beckham will play against Buffalo. His first snaps, if they come on Monday night, will show how the Vikings plan to use him.