Odell Beckham Jr.’s much-anticipated Miami Dolphins debut could happen against the New England Patriots on Sunday, but it also could take another two weeks.

Head coach Mike McDaniel didn’t make any definitive statements regarding Beckham’s status for the Week 5, the last before the Dolphins have their bye in Week 6 and get back to action against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 7.

Beckham took part in his first actual practice Thursday after the Dolphins opened their three-week window for his return off the Physically Unable to Perform list.

“There’s something to be said about today’s practice, for sure,” McDaniel said before practice Friday. “However, I think he’s on a team that’s very motivated to win a football game. I think he’s eager to try to help do that. So you kind of have to weigh … you take in the full breadth of the practice week and then make a decision. And that decision, if you do go that direction, has implications that you have to address within your team, and if you do go that direction, it’s some sort of modified usage of them that you’d expect the following game to there be a little uptick.”

In other words, McDaniel suggested that if Beckham does play against the Patriots, don’t expect a heavy role for him, certainly not as big as he could have against the Colts when he’d had three weeks of practice with the team.

At the very least, the first practice for Beckham — after he took part in a walk-through Wednesday — went well.

“I’m being pretty measured with allowing the week to progress, because it was exciting to see him operate within the offense,” McDaniel said. “He did a good job yesterday. He looked good. But so me being year three of it as a head coach, I temper my excitement. I try to see how he feels and looks today, after a little workload and then be responsible for the team. But it was a very positive day from that aspect.”

BECKHAM DELIVERS MESSAGE

The Dolphins offense obviously could use any kind of contribution from Beckham, especially considering the lack of production they’ve gotten from any wide receiver other than Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle — and even those two haven’t done much since the opener.

But Beckham isn’t necessarily looking at things as extra pressure.

“I think at this point in my life, pressure is why I got into this game,” he told reporters Thursday. “It was never for the attention, because something about knowing that it’s time to perform and then showing up and performing, truly. It wasn’t for cameras and Instagram followers and endorsements, like all that is something I didn’t really know about, you know what I mean? It was for the pressure. So for me, I’ll take on the pressure, but I don’t feel there’s a need – I don’t feel there’s extra pressure on me. I feel it’s the same for everybody in this building like we got to get going. We got to start making plays. Defense has been playing great, offense it’s our time. Like we got to take over. There’s a reason I came to this offense. It’s because I’ve seen what they did all last year. Two games away from being the one seed. I was over there in Baltimore when we, not we, lost to Tennessee last year. I remember what it was like. So it’s a bunch of great things. It’s no time to panic, but it’s definitely time to have a sense of urgency.”

Beckham revealed he had surgery in the offseason, though he didn’t say exactly when.

He also said he regretted not having the procedure done earlier, which would have given him a shot to be ready at the start of the season.

But what Beckham wanted to make clear was his reason for being with the Dolphins right now.

“I think a lot of people don’t know exactly what I was going through,” Beckham said. “Just like everybody in here, we’re all humans. We all go through life. And ending the season, there was a lot going on in my life, personal life, businesses, all of that, that just kind of had me in a place where football wasn’t exactly the priority. I have a son, he’s 2 years old and I didn’t get much time to spend with him. I feel like he’s growing up fast and I’m not having that much time, so football exactly wasn’t the first and foremost thing on my mind.

“Then I had to have a small cleanup of the knee and just kind of going through that free agency process – my agent and I went back and forth whether we do it right after the season or we wait until free agency happens and I just feel like I waited too late, didn’t know what was going on. Deep down inside my plan a long time ago the way that the free agency went, I was probably going to join a team during the season. So I had more time, there wasn’t going to be the pressure to be back for training camp and all that.

“So just talking with Mike, just figuring out where I wanted to go and the conversations I had with him along with some other brothers that I have down here, he was one of the main reasons I came here. We kind of had an understanding of probably not going to be ready. He ensured me that that was fine, just try and get back as fast as you can. And a lot of people don’t know what the PUP list is or what it actually entails. You see a lot of people, ‘Oh, are you even going to play football?’ This is just me from the bottom – I could be anywhere in the world right now. I chose to be here, to play football in the NFL. I could be overseas anywhere. I could be doing whatever I want, I’ve done enough in my life to where I’ve warranted that for myself. So I chose to be here. ”