BECKHAM DROPS BALL
Odell, dealing with hammy and Giant jibes, blows off media:
HOWARD SIMMONS/DAILY NEWS
IT WAS the most dynamic and electric move Odell Beckham Jr. had made in weeks. And all it did was get him past the media and clear of the questions about his recent thin-skinned comments about his teammates. So much for setting everyone at ease about that balky left hamstring. On Thursday, the Giants’ most dangerous receiver spent the final day of mandatory minicamp on the sidelines again, continuing to nurse an injury that has plagued him all spring. And when the workout was all over, the club had scheduled Beckham to speak with the media for the first time since late April.
Except the increasingly mercurial receiver was already gone, his latest conspicuous absence from the locker room. This time, it helped him skillfully avoid a coming barrage of questions regarding a strange ESPN interview in which he called out teammates for — wait for it — having good-natured fun over his eternally bum hammies. As usual, Tom Coughlin was left to run damage control, and express the slightest bit of frustration over his star being sidelined. “He’s feeling better,” insisted Coughlin, “but he needs to feel a whole lot better.” But... “I want him on the field just like he wants to be on the field,” Coughlin said. “The next level he can attain is going to be accomplished by practicing.”
Coughlin said “the plan” with Beckham remains the same: The team hopes to have the receiver ready to go by training camp on July 30. Beckham’s injury history is hardly on the Giants’ side; a year ago, a mere twinge in the right hamstring led him to miss the first four games.
Beckham has dodged every chance to address the severity of his new injury, avoiding the media when the injury first happened, aside from a series of quotes handed out by the team, and skipping his scheduled opportunity on Thursday.
It’s no wonder Beckham’s teammates have made fun of his perpetually brittle hamstrings, something that increasingly irks him, he admitted in an interview on ESPN.
“For me, this is what I love doing, and this is what I feel like my purpose was to do,” Beckham told ESPN earlier this week. “So it takes a lot of strength for me to be able to come here every day and not practice, have to hear the little remarks, the little jokes, this and that.”
Sob story not enough? Good, because Beckham kept going. “And it’s not just about a hamstring — it’s so many other things that people talk about,” he’d added on ESPN. “So it’s hard to come here and try and focus on ‘what play is up right now?’ instead of thinking about how bad you want to be out there.”
Not that anyone has dissed the fragile receiver with fragile feelings that much, Coughlin said.
“His teammates, there is obviously some mix in there that may have been something serious, but most of it would have been well-intended shots just over the bow,” Coughlin said. “His personality hasn’t let up any because of it, I can guarantee you that.”
If anything, Beckham’s teammates have politely answered questions about Beckham’s injury.
On Thursday, receiver Victor Cruz, also sidelined during minicamp as he continues working back from a torn left patellar tendon, ran with Beckham off to the side and said he believes the young star will be ready come camp. “I don’t know the severity of it. I don’t really ask,” said Cruz. “But I think it’s going to be OK, in my personal opinion. By the time training camp comes around, he’ll be ready to go, ready to run routes and stuff. . . . I just want to keep him focused and let him know that slow and steady wins the race.”
And there is a race for touches, because as offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo pointed out, the group has seen an influx of talent, starting with the hoped return of Cruz and the addition of versatile running back Shane Vereen.
McAdoo did caution that the youngster won’t automatically be featured as he was during his breakout rookie year. “Last year, he was featured in a lot of ways,” McAdoo said of Beckham. “This year, there are some more guys in the mix. Those opportunities are earned. To me, every year is a new year, and you have to come in and earn what takes place the next year.”
And that’s about more than deking past the press.