Beckham doesn’t have to wait for shot to show he’s all grown up

HE WAS relaxed and reflective and smiling that $95 million smile as he stood at his new locker, a short slant from Eli Manning, years removed from his infamous throw-down with Josh Norman that magnified the bull’s-eye on his back for all to see and for all to taunt and for all to incite.

So nowhere comes J al en Ramsey, probably the best cornerback in the NFL and certainly the best trash-talker, undoubtedly eager to execute a game plan aimed at baiting Odell Beckham Jr. in front of the home-opener crowd at MetLife Stadium and therefore revealing Beckham’s long-awaited grown-up persona to be a mirage.

Beckham has done everything right since Dave Gettleman arrived to kick ass, and has bonded with Pat Shurmur and won the trust of John Mara and Steve Tisch.

If he lets Ramsey get in his head after all this, if he cannot control his emotions and turn the other cheek on a day when his emotions will be further fueled by his return to the game he loves after 11 months spent rehabbing that fractured ankle, then the entire franchise sags, and his legendary ambitions are stalled again.

So the message to Beckham, from every precinct of the organization to yours truly, is a simple one and a critical one:

Don’t take the cheese.

This is the litmus test for whether a new and improved Beckham can tame the wild game-day beast inside him.

There is optimism around the Giants that he will pass it. Beckham vows that he will. Now he has to show us, rather than just tell us.

The younger Beckham allowed the noise and the hype around his duel with Norman, the best corner in the game in 2015, to penetrate his psyche.

“It was all set up to happen what exactly happened,” Beckham said.

The 25-year-old Beckham has a new perspective on life after the game was taken away from him.

Beckham: “I think I learned my lesson.”

Beckham: “I’m seeing things different now.”

Beckham: “It’s not gonna be something that you repeat.”

When someone suggested he was suckered into his war with Norman, Beckham said: “Yeah, but … I took the cheese, so …” He chuckled. “You can’t be mad at anything that happened. I bit on it, so it’s all good,” he said.

This is an opportunity for Beckham to show his maturity to Tom Coughlin, who will be watching his Jags from the press box, and to Gettleman, who was Panthers GM at the time. Coughlin proved to be a helpless witness to Beckham (six receptions, 76 yards, one touchdown) versus Norman during the Panthers’ 38-35 win.

“I don’t think that the contract could do any more for that target on my back … inflicted by the world, inflicted by myself, that target’s been on there since I came in,” Beckham said. “Guys have always wanted to hit me and be able to talk about it, it’s just the reality of where

I’m at in life, and it’s just something I’ve had to deal with.”

Beckham has never played against Ramsey. After Beckham signed his mega-deal, Ramsey tweeted: “It’s going to be a show very soon #BatmanVsTheJoker.”

Beckham won’t have the same animosity for Ramsey he had for Norman. Beckham has worked out with Ramsey over the offseason.

“He can go down as that Primetime in my opinion if he keeps up what he’s doing now,” Beckham said, referring to Deion Sanders.

Beckham loves the weapons around him, the camaraderie around him.

“There’s a brotherhood in this locker room that stems from the head coach doing what he’s doing,” Beckham said.

He looks forward to surviving that first hit, to the return to the scene of his injury now that he can watch the horrific end to his 2017 season, to playing for the Giants crowd. He was asked if he would like to get a punt-return chance. He chuckled.

“Absolutely,” he said. “However I can help this team, I’m all the way in. Then don’t take the cheese. Please.