All New York Giants fans won’t sleep well until receiver Odell Beckham gets a clean bill of health after Monday night’s preseason game, though it looked like he avoided a serious injury.

Beckham was hit low by Cleveland Browns safety Briean Boddy-Calhoun and his leg bent awkwardly. Beckham was down on the ground for a while, then walked off under his own power. That seemed to be a good sign. But once he got back near the locker room (he was by himself, and it’s odd why the Giants training staff wasn’t attending to him after the dangerous hit) ESPN showed him on both knees on the ground in pain.

Multiple reporters at the game said Giants safety Landon Collins had heated words with Boddy-Calhoun for the low hit.

ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported it was an ankle injury, and he was evaluated for a concussion. Beckham cleared the concussion tests, ESPN said, but he was carted away for X-rays on his leg. Yahoo’s Charles Robinson said the Giants reported it was a sprained ankle, though there was no word on the severity.

The good news was that Beckham was back on the sideline, though out of uniform, at the start of the second half and was walking around fine. Salters said she asked Beckham if he was OK, and he gave a flexed muscle sign, which seemed to indicate he was fine. If it was a serious injury, Beckham wouldn’t have been walking around unattended on the Giants sideline.

[Now’s the time to sign up for Fantasy Football! Join for free]

This is the conundrum all coaches face in the preseason. A player like Beckham doesn’t necessarily need preseason, but it’s for the best if he gets some preseason action and is sharp for the start of the regular season. But it’s impossible to completely avoid injuries in a preseason game. We’ve seen some big injuries in meaningless preseason games, like Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson suffering a season-ending knee injury two years ago.

Based on Beckham moving around on the sideline during the second half it seems like the Giants avoided a major injury. Even if that’s the case, it’s a good bet we won’t see Beckham again this preseason.

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @YahooSchwab