First chance to hear Odell & Eli thoughts
ODELL Beckham Jr. has done only one on-the-record interview with any member of the New York media since Oct. 4, 2017, and it was a relatively harmless conversation about his contract and health on Feb. 3 at the NFL Honors reception in Minneapolis. But since breaking his ankle Oct. 8 against the L.A. Chargers, a lot has happened to say the least: from the benching of Eli Manning, to the firings of Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese, to the hirings of GM Dave Gettleman and coach Pat Shurmur, to Beckham’s controversial March viral video from Paris, to the Giants’ OBJ trade talks with other teams, to his still-unresolved contract standoff. Needless to say, everyone wants to hear from the man himself. Meanwhile, the next time Eli Manning does an interview also will be the first opportunity for him to explain why there was a need to settle claims of memorabilia fraud against him, as he did in Bergen County Superior Court last week.
Shurmur also reiterated Sunday, despite the voluntary nature of the Giants’ 10 OTA practices, that “hopefully we’ll have the whole team there.” Offensive tackle Ereck Flowers was the only player who skipped the team’s optional minicamp in April without an excuse (Damon Harrison returned to college to graduate; Landon Collins was injured). Flowers was upset at the team’s signing of left tackle Nate Solder, but last week he finally showed at the team facility.
“As we all know, these are still voluntary sessions,” Shurmur said. “But to this point we’ve had a very productive offseason. We think the guys are really ready to compete against one another. So we’ve got 10 OTAs and a (mandatory) minicamp (June 12-14) on the horizon here, and (I) just really want the guys to go out and compete, get better, execute our systems, learn how to play well together. And it’ll be another good opportunity for me to get to know our players. I think that’s an important piece when you’re a new head coach.” JUSTIN TASCH/DAILY NEWS