New York Giants WR Odell Beckham, Jr., celebrity du jour, is on the minds of friends and foes alike these days.
If you want to be a celebrity, make sure you’re ready for what comes next. In this day and age of digital news, celebrities are made almost instantaneously. Such is the case of the Odell Beckham, Jr., the New York Giants‘ flashy wide receiver who has wowed fans around the world with his acrobatic plays and signature fashion statements.
OBJ, as he is known, is also drawing fire for his conspicuous absence at the Giants’ OTA sessions this spring. The sessions are voluntary as per the league’s collective bargaining agreement, but are usually attended by healthy players. Beckham is healthy.
Beckham is not your ordinary player, granted, but he is part of a team. Football is a team game and although his teammates are in his corner in regards to his absence, deep down they have to be feeling a bit slighted.
Giants head coach Ben McAdoo appears to be agitated that Beckham and DE Oliver Vernon have both blown off the team’s OTAs.
“You want all your players here, especially your great players,” McAdoo told reporters Thursday. “It’s a time to build fundamentals and communication and chemistry and trust, so you want all your players here, especially the great ones. They facilitate a lot of those things for you, but you coach who’s here. That’s what time of year it is for us.”
NFL Network reporter Kim Jones tells Giant fans to cool their jets, OBJ will be showing up to the team’s mandatory minicamp in mid-June.
Hall of Fame WR Michael Irvin, who knows a few things about living in the spotlight, had some solid advice for OBJ yesterday. “Money, fame and girls will come … but Odell Beckham Jr. has to make football and his teammates the top priority in his life …” Irvin told TMZ Sports.
On the other side of the coin OBJ’s nemesis, Washington Redskins CB Josh Norman, continues to throw shade on the Giants star, calling him a “big kid”.
“He tries to be a tough guy,” Norman said as per the NY Post. “He tries to put on this persona, which he’s not. … He does things that he normally wouldn’t do because of all the pressure and added hype that he has to put on his whole persona. He’s not this guy. If you go back and watch the games in which we play compared to the games we don’t play each other, he’s a totally different guy….When people get physical, tough, like the Minnesota game, he acts out. He’s a kid. He’s a big kid, man.”
Nothing false about what Norman said here. OBJ is bringing the extra heat upon himself. This week, he added to his brand by signing the largest shoe deal in the history of the NFL with Nike. He’s also been active on social media, posting a photo of him working out with much-maligned free agent QB Johnny Manziel and fueling rumors of a relationship with pop star Iggy Azalea.
Beckham also tweeted out a response to all his critics…
New teammate Brandon Marshall told reporters he knows how dedicated OBJ is to his profession and that he is confident Beckham will show up in tip-top shape:
“He is special and he is a freak. I just watch everything that he does. One day we were in the weight room and he was hanging from the bars with one hand and then fell and caught himself with the other hand on the floor. I know you can’t follow what I am saying, but for him to have that type of body control is just unbelievable. He is probably the best athlete that I have ever seen. I mean he can kick a soccer ball, he can kick a football, he can throw a baseball, he can hit a baseball. I am not saying that I am envious, but dang I wish I could be him. He has cool hair, he just signed the biggest shoe deal in football history. Dang, I wish I had that, man. That is awesome….So he is not right here obviously, but I know he is handling his business and he will be ready when he comes in.”
The truth is, OBJ is working out in California on his own as demonstrated by tweets posted by Fox Sports’ Nick Wright and Hall of Fame Cris Carter…
For more videos, visit Nick Wright’s Twitter page.