Odell Beckham Jr's Catch

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Published September 19, 2026

Odell Beckham Jr's Catch is a Photoshop meme built around an iconic 2014 NFL image of the New York Giants receiver making an impossible one-handed touchdown grab against the Dallas Cowboys. Within hours of the play, Twitter users had cut Beckham out of the frame and dropped him into Renaissance frescoes, magazine covers, and celebrity scenes, spawning one of the defining sports Photoshop templates of the 2010s.

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Overview

The format is straightforward but endlessly remixable. People take the exact cutout of Beckham fully extended in mid-air, right hand cradling the football, and paste him into a scene where he can be shown catching something absurd2. The pose is so distinctive that even against unrelated backgrounds, viewers instantly recognize it as the November 23rd, 2014 touchdown against Dallas1.

Common variations drop Beckham into art history (grabbing the finger of God in Michelangelo's 'The Creation of Adam'), into other sports moments (catching stray pitches or golf balls), and into pop culture stills (superimposed on magazine covers or replacing characters in movie scenes)2. The joke works because the real catch already looks physically impossible, so any exaggerated context just doubles down on the absurdity of what Beckham actually did on the field.

Origin & Background

Platform
Live NFL broadcast (catalyst) / Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
@felixpotvin
Date
2014

During a Sunday night NFL game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys on November 23rd, 2014, Beckham reached backwards behind his own head with one hand to pull in a touchdown pass from quarterback Eli Manning1. The play went viral in real time as broadcasters replayed it throughout the game and highlight clips began circulating on social media within minutes2.

The earliest known Photoshop edit came from Twitter user @felixpotvin, who inserted Beckham's cutout into Michelangelo's fresco 'The Creation of Adam' so he appeared to be catching the finger of God rather than reaching for it2. The image spread across Twitter overnight, and by the following morning several other accounts had joined in with their own edits using the same cutout.

How It Spread

How to Use This Meme

The standard convention is to isolate the cutout of Beckham fully extended, right arm behind his head, then paste him into another image at a scale and angle where his hand appears to be catching something in the background scene2. The 'catch' can be literal (a ball, a person's finger, a falling object) or symbolic (an award, a trending news item, a bouquet at a wedding). Keeping the original body pose intact is what makes the reference land.

Frequently Asked Questions