ODELL: WHY I WANT TO BE HIGHEST PAID
Beckham: Salary goal about raising bar for entire NFL
Odell Beckham Jr. wants to be the highest-paid player in the NFL, not only for himself, but also for all those other players in the league who are not getting their fair share of the money.
“That’s what you want to do, you want to change the game,’’ Beckham said Friday after the Giants’ first practice of training camp. “This is not just for Odell Beckham, this is for everybody in the league, people who deserve it.
“You sit there and you watch the NBA, it’s crazy. Being realistic, it’s crazy what they’re getting. And there’s people in the NFL who deserve that. I want to, if I can, be on the forefront for it and help push the league, the game that way, because I feel like the fans deserve it, I feel like we go through a lot, we put ourselves through a lot. They just deserve it. It’s not for me.’’
The Odell Contract Bandwagon got rolling faster than ever a day earlier, when, in a video on the Uninterrupted website, he stated his goal for his next contract: “I believe that I will be, not just the highest paid receiver in the league, but the highest paid, period.”
A day later, Beckham faced the music and was rather blasé about it.
He has a financial stake in Uninterrupted, he said, which is why he agreed to the video. As for talking about his contract, Beckham said: “It’s really just something on my mind. There’s a lot of other things, goals you have you want to accomplish, that’s just one of them.’’
As for taking up the cause for his NFL brethren, Beckham said: “I feel like players in the NFL doing things they’re doing should be paid. It’s just that simple.’’
As far as acrimony attached to this contract stance, there is none to be found. The Giants have every intention of paying Beckham, one of a handful of transcendent NFL stars, when the decision- makers feel the time is right.
“I think probably every player would like to be the highest-paid player in the game,’’ Giants coowner John Mara said. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over that. We’ll get the contract done at the appropriate time. I think it will happen sooner rather than later but there’s no timetable on it, there’s no reason for us to rush into it.’’
The timing of this is interesting, coming at the start of training camp, when everything his heightened. Beckham saw nothing significant as to when he said what he said.
“I mean, everything’s a distraction that I do,’’ he said. “Speaking doesn’t really matter, anything that goes on is going to be a distraction.
“This is my fourth year in the league, I don’t really know about contracts. I don’t know how they’re done. I don’t know anything about that. That’s for Mr. [Jerry] Reese, Mr. Mara and the Giants. They can all figure that out. I just come out here, stretch, run around, play football, try to be the best player I can be every day.’’
Beckham will play this season for $1.8 million, far below market value for a player of his stature. The Giants picked up his fifth-year option for 2018, when Beckham is scheduled to make $8.4 million.
“If I have to go out another year and prove myself, that’s what I have to do,’’ Beckham said.
This is not about proving anything, Mara said.
“Listen, he’s going to get a longterm contract,’’ Mara said. “We’re not asking him to prove anything at this point. Just keep playing as hard as you’ve been playing and continue your growth off the field as a person and I’m confident he’s going to do both.’’
Beckham could have opted to sit out, trying to pressure the Giants into coming up with a new deal for him. That is the way running back LeVeon Bell is handling his contract squabble with the Steelers. Bell, unhappy he has not received a long-term deal and must play on the one-year franchise tag of $12.2 million, is holding out of training camp.
Beckham said he can and will be patient.
“I’m 24 years old, I’m trying to play football until I can’t play football anymore,’’ he said. “I can’t get caught up taking days off and not playing.’’