ODELL SKIPS EARLY GIANTS WORKOUTS:

THERE IS no reason to question Odell Beckham Jr.’s work ethic. The Giants’ star receiver has weaknesses like everyone else: a hot temper that sometimes gets the best of him, a questionable decision here and there.

But say what you want about Beckham, he always puts in the work, always seems to get the best and more out of himself through rigorous offseason training and intense in-season focus.

So the issue of Beckham skipping the first voluntary practice of Giants OTAs on Monday isn’t that anyone inside the building questions his commitment.

The Giants know Beckham works his butt off, wherever he is. And he’s doing that, according to an Instagram video posted by his Californiabased trainer.

The problem, from a perception standpoint at least, is that Beckham wasn’t working his butt off alongside his teammates.

That may sound like a subtle, insignificant difference, especially with these being only voluntary workouts.

But in the NFL, the word voluntary might as well be surrounded by sarcastic quotation marks when it comes to OTAs. Coaches know who is attending and who isn’t. Players have used skipping voluntary OTAs before to make a statement, knowing their absence is noticed.

GM Jerry Reese ended the season by telling Beckham privately, and telling the world publicly, that he had to grow up and mature as a young man, professional and leader.

This came after the infamous boat trip, a poor performance in the Wild Card loss in Green Bay and Beckham’s punch to a wall at Lambeau Field.

Beckham sure sounded as if he’d taken Reese’s talk to heart after the Giants picked up his fifth-year option in late April, tweeting about how he intended to work hard to become better than ever.

But so far this offseason he has missed two opportunities already to catch passes from Eli Manning: in early April at Manning’s passing camp at Duke, and now on Monday.

The season ended with Beckham dropping two key passes early in that loss in Green Bay. Earlier this offseason, coach Ben McAdoo said the Giants need more completions and efficiency from the Manning to Beckham combo. It remains unknown why Beckham scheduled oral surgery the week of Manning’s camp while hanging with Drake and attending the Final Four prior. Beckham’s agent has not replied to repeated attempts by the Daily News to clarify the situation.

Then there was a story about Beckham arriving late to an event at MetLife Stadium this spring after flying cross country, as well, and not putting in his contracted time.

The Dunkin Donuts PR team running the event insisted to the Daily News that the event had gone well but did not deny — in their euphemistic statement — “some last minute scheduling changes.”

“Odell Beckham Jr.’s appearance with the Van Cortlandt Titans youth football team was the culmination of the Dunkin’ Donuts Catch

of a Lifetime campaign, spotlighting the amazing work being done by youth football programs throughout the Metro NY market,” the Dunkin PR statement read. “The event was scheduled to last approximately two hours featuring a tour of MetLife Stadium and a football clinic with Odell for a portion of the event. Despite some last minute scheduling changes, Odell threw passes, took photos and interacted with the winning team. We have received incredibly positive feedback from the youth football team and we were happy to provide them with this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Beckham, quite simply, is the Giants’ most important player. What he does and where he does it matters. He is a leader of this team, even if he’s not a captain.

Manning was there on Monday. Beckham was not. It won’t be known, maybe until Thursday, whether Manning or McAdoo was bothered by that. ut frankly, when Beckham ended his Twitter vow about the offseason with the hashtag #ImOffTheGrid, the Giants probably were hoping he didn’t mean literally.

They need him to grow. They need him to set an example. They need him in the building.

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