He is synonymous with the spectacular and the outlandish. He is also a great football talent. Of course, we are talking about three-year pro-odell beckham jr., one of the top wide receivers in the National Football League. This past season, only Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald (107) and Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown (106) caught more passes than the prolific Big Blue target. Beckham finished with 101 receptions, good for 1,367 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.
He and the New York giants had a rough time in a 38-13 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers.
And now the talented pro is ready to return to the team for mandatory minicamp. He opted to forego the team’s recent OTAs and now appears focused to work. Of course, there is also the matter of getting a new contract that would be comparable to his overall production.
Amazing numbers
You will recall that Beckham missed the first four games of his career in 2014 with the New York Giants due to hamstring issues. But once he got on the field he made an immediate impression. He was also sat down via a one-game suspension in 2015 due to his altercation with Carolina Panthers/now Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman.
It all adds up to 43 regular-season outings and a sum total of 288 grabs for 4,122 yards and 35 scores.
Beckham has totaled 1,300-plus yards and 10 or more touchdowns in each of his three NFL campaigns. He’s seen his reception total increase each year. From 91 catches as a rookie to 96 receptions in 2015 to snaring 101 balls this past year.
Time to pay up?
Earlier this month, the New York Giants held a “Giants Town Hall” for anyone who wanted to attend – with the exception of the media.
Team president/CEO John K. Mara was quoted as saying that “we want Odell to be a Giant for the rest of his career.” (courtesy of @Joseph_Laura). It’s also worth noting that (via @RealistSpeaking) that Mara stated that “contract negotiations with Odell haven't begun but will in the near future.” That’s certainly understandable and makes very logical sense.
As the 12th overall pick in the 2014 draft, he signed a four-year, $10.4 million deal in mid-April that year (via Spotrac).
Roughly two months ago, the organization logically opted to pick up the fifth-year option on the former first-round pick. This season, he’s slated to make $1.839 million but a year from now, that jumps up to $8.459 million in 2018. Of course, that’s not including personal endorsements via his newest contract from Nike. In any case, look for this situation to be resolved sooner than later via a revised deal. While Beckham has been flamboyant and perhaps a little disruptive at times, he has at least earned a new contract. We shall see how long it takes the New York front office to get this done.
