He could have had it all, a legendary career as a New York Giant, best receiver in the franchise’s history, and Odell Beckham Jr. dropped the ball.

It is still hard to fathom, such a wondrous young talent who seemed heaven-made for the bright lights and the big stage becoming such a headache and such a distraction that the New York Football Giants couldn’t wait to wash their hands of what had become in their eyes an ongoing soap opera.

The sight of Beckham wearing a 13 Cleveland Browns jersey on “Monday Night Football” against the Jets will undoubtedly be surreal as he returns to the scene of The Catch that changed his life, and seemed to change him as well.

From that night on, he wore a bull’s-eye on his chest, and struggled walking the tightrope and maintaining his balance between football star and entertainment icon.

And in front of the “MNF” cameras, Beckham faces a maturation test as he looks to embarrass Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams without making a spectacle of himself.

Beckham shined a light on Williams’ barbaric past when he accused him of targeting his ankle three preseasons ago as Browns defensive coordinator, a calculated tactic designed to get the zebras on high alert from the start. Williams won the Chutzpah Olympics when he dismissed his own sordid Bountygate suspension and Beckham as a Lethal Weapon at the same time.

Beckham (7-71 receiving in the Browns’ shocking 43-13 loss to the Titans) is hellbent on exacting his revenge on Williams. Williams, without his defensive quarterback C.J. Mosley, is hellbent on helping backup quarterback Trevor Siemian, if not getting in Beckham’s head enough to compel him to headbutt and punch a sideline cooling fan or something.

The Giants wanted Beckham to grow into a leader, and gave him 90 million reasons to become one. It never came as naturally to him as it has with Saquon Barkley, not even close.

Browns GM John Dorsey didn’t trade for a leader when he surrendered first- and third-round draft choices and safety Jabrill Peppers to the Giants, he already had his man in Baker Mayfield. No, Dorsey traded for the dynamic, game-changing playmaker who was must-watch theater from the moment he stepped onto an NFL field.

Beckham wants to win the game the way Lawrence Taylor wanted to win the game, but there were too many occasions when he could not tame his inner beast and it sabotaged him, left him acting out like some petulant, raging child.

Sadly, he never seemed truly happy as a Giant, often conflicted instead, dreaming about being A Giant For Life one minute, telling Lil Wayne something else entirely the next.

His Giants teammates got a kick out of his goofiness, adored his work ethic and respected his otherworldly gifts. But as hard as he tried to establish a relationship with Beckham at the beginning, coach Pat Shurmur failed to connect with him or reach him, and GM Dave Gettleman decided that Beckham could not be part of the Big Blue band if he was going to keep marching to the beat of his own drummer.

Beckham should do himself a favor and stop looking backward, stop trashing Gettleman and the Giants. In Mayfield, he has a quarterback he prefers to Eli Manning. Receiver Jarvis Landry is one of his best friends. In Freddie Kitchens, he has a head coach who he believes will let Beckham be Beckham more than he believes the Giants let Beckham be Beckham. With the Browns, he has a better chance to win his first playoff game than he would with the Giants.

Williams undoubtedly knows he doesn’t have the cornerbacks to stop Beckham. The likelihood is that only Beckham can stop Beckham.