Odell Beckham Jr. Will Reportedly Not Set Foot On A Field Until He Gets A New Contract
What an awesome way to start the week! Yesterday we had John Mara throwing out proclamations that nobody is untouchable after that video of Odell eating pizza that was at best a 5.2 on the One Bite scale. Now today we have rumors that Odell is going to face off against the Giants front office and hold out until he gets a new deal. Great, grand, WONDERFUL!!! I’m sure the New York media will cover this story very fairly for all parties involved.
Look, I get that Odell needs to clean up his shit, especially when he’s looking for a new contract. I hate living in the spinzone for him whenever a picture or video goes viral. But for some reason everything he says or does gets covered like its the end of the world. Remember last season when people went crazy just because Odell said he MIGHT hold out? Meanwhile Aaron Donald did hold out for the preseason and nobody said shit. Both are among the best at their position and were even drafted back-to-back. But when Odell does something or in this case even thinks about doing something, people lose their fucking marbles. The Giants would have been better off if ODB held out all preseason instead of playing, hurting his ankle in the Factory of Sadness, playing hurt, and watching the Giants offense go in the shitter. Then once he was finally healthy, the Giants actually could move the ball again before his ankle exploded against the Chargers. Now he enters a new season with less leverage than he did the year before. ODB probably should have held out last year and he should definitely hold out this year. Just like Aaron Donald did. Just like Le’Veon Bell did and will do again. But the amount of stories about Odell doing it will likely trump all the other players that do combined.
And John Mara can get the fuck out of my face with this type of talk. The same guy that botched the way the Coughlin “resignation” was handled, happily had Josh Brown as his kicker despite knowing of some of his transgressions, and cleared the events that led to Eli Manning’s streak being broken for a Geno Smith spot start last season is going to lecture Odell Beckham because of a video he was in or because he fake peed like a dog after a touchdown last season? When a bunch of non-stories sync up with a few red flags and a shitload of money enters the equation, that’s when a great player leaves the franchise that drafted him. You do not want to be the team that gave up on a player like Odell Beckham for money reasons or character reasons that aren’t egregious. Or else you may watch him happily putting up record-breaking numbers with another team (likely the Patriots sooner or later) before long.
P.S. I did laugh at the idea of Odell Beckham not setting foot on any type of field regardless of what sport is played on it. No first pitches at baseball games or watching a friend’s 5-year-old kid play soccer. Odell’s feet will not touch grass until he gets P-A-I-D by the Giants or somebody else.