OBJ holdout? Sure looks like it
Odell Beckham Jr. showed his strongest sign yet Tuesday night that his absence from Giants OTAs is about the money. And if it’s not a holdout, it sure looks like one now. Beckham retweeted a link from the website FanSided that contained a video of ESPN reporter Adam Schefter talking as if he were Beckham’s agent on ESPN Radio, saying Beckham shouldn’t show up again in East Rutherford until the Giants rip up Beckham’s rookie deal and pay him what he is worth.
Beckham, 24, is scheduled to make $1.8 million in base salary this season and then $8.4 million in 2017, in the fifth-year option the Giants recently picked up.
But an NFL player and his team are allowed to revisit and renegotiate his rookie deal after three years of service, which Beckham has completed.
And his salary pales in comparison to contracts such as that of Beckham’s good friend Antonio Brown, 28. Brown is now worth a league-high $17 million per year for receivers, per overthecap.com, and received a $19 million signing bonus on his latest extension.
Beckham also is good friends with Broncos end Von Miller, 28, who went to the wire in a contentious post-Super Bowl negotiation with Denver before signing just prior to the franchise tender deadline last July to a record six-year, $114.5 million deal that included $70 million in guarantees.
Beckham recently received a five-year, $29 million extension from Nike, so he’s not hurting for spare change. But if his Tuesday retweet is any indication, it appears he does not intend to report until he has a new Giants contract, too.
It now remains to be seen whether Beckham still intends to attend next week’s three-day Giants’ mandatory minicamp, which he told NFL Network in late May he was planning to do.
Schefter said in the Tuesday radio clip that if he were advising Beckham, he wouldn’t show up at an OTA, a mandatory minicamp, training camp, or anything until he received a new deal. And Beckham retweeted that sentiment.
Beckham also did not show at the David Tyree Charity Bowl at Lucky Strike off Times Square on Tuesday night, an event that the PR agency in charge, Relevant Communications, repeatedly had touted would be headlined by Beckham and Olivier Vernon.
Vernon has been a no-show at Giants OTAs so far just like Beckham. But unlike the receiver, Vernon flew up from Miami just for Tuesday’s event and then said he definitely will be attending next week’s Giants mandatory minicamp Tuesday through Thursday.
Regarding his continued absence from East Rutherford, Vernon said: “I just know when I get back with my teammates, we’re gonna be alright. That’s all I know. I know those guys are working hard right now, and so am I.”
Vernon has been working out with his former University of Miami strength coach, Andreu Swasey. Vernon, who played most of his first season as a Giant with a broken hand, also said that he's “good to go” and healthy.