ELI, ODELL NEVER FELT THIS WAY BEFORE:
Giant star confident he’ll get extension before the season
ODELL Beckham Jr. went on record Saturday in Minneapolis that he wants the Giants to get his contract extension done and expressed confidence it would happen this offseason with one year remaining on his rookie deal.
“Hopefully to get it done,” Beckham told NJ.com on the red carpet of the NFL Honors show of his mindset on an extension this offseason. “It’s that time just to get it over with. I really want to do it so I can move past it. It’s too much sitting around thinking, ‘Where am I going to be at?’
“I need to know where I can start buying furniture for a house,” Beckham added. “I want to have a place set where I know, ‘OK, this is home. I can always go back to home.’ So it’s just a little intermediate process right now. I’m sure it will get worked out.”
Beckham, 25, is scheduled to earn $8.4 million on the fifth and final year of his rookie contract. Last offseason he sat out all of the Giants’ optional OTa practices before returning for mandatory minicamp in June and training camp in July.
Just before training camp, Beckham said he wanted to become the highest-paid player in NFL history, but he reported and played on a $1.8 million salary and ended up spraining his left ankle in cleveland in the preseason before breaking the same ankle in Week 5 against the chargers.
Beckham said he’s been encouraged by his rehab but finds it tough to be patient because he’s so eager to go full speed.
“I don’t know a percentage, but I’m actually doing really good,” Beckham told NJ.com. “(Doctors) tell me to slow down because I’ve been out for so long and I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go. Now I can see where the mental part comes in as far as being patient and knowing you can’t push too much right now or you need to push more. Just kind of finding that balance, so I’m actually doing really good.”
In a fun moment, NJ.com also said Beckham and the Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt — whose 2017 season ended after only five games due to a broken leg — challenged each other to a friendly competition in 2018.
“comeback Player of the Year?” Beckham said.
“It’s gonna be the battle of a lifetime, brother,” Watt answered.
They’ll have plenty of competition for the award given all the season-ending injuries that impacted prominent players this past NFL season, including the Eagles’ carson Wentz, the Packers’ aaron Rodgers, the colts’ andrew Luck, the Texans’ Deshaun Watson, the cardinals’ David Johnson, the Vikings’ Dalvin cook and the chiefs’ Eric Berry, among others.
Beckham said he did not know if negotiations had begun on his extension.
“My agent probably knows,” Beckham said. “I don’t really talk to him about it yet.”
co-owner John Mara said at head coach Pat Shurmur’s introductory press conference in January that the Giants intended to get a deal done eventually but indicated it wasn’t a priority at that moment and added that he first wanted Beckham to meet with Shurmur to talk about how the Giants must “act” from here on out.
Shurmur said recently that the meeting went well and Beckham agreed on Saturday.
“I think we have an understanding of what we want to do,” Beckham said. “Just to talk to him and being with a guy who just loves football, I watched what he did in Minnesota and it was exciting, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.”
Beckham also sounded optimistic about his meeting with new GM Dave Gettleman, who has a reputation as a no-nonsense negotiator and decision-maker from some of his moves parting from veterans in carolina.
“It was great,” Beckham said. “He seems like a straight-shooter.
“We only met once, but from the conversation you can kind of have an understanding of who a person is. It seems like this is going to be a very fun year.”