Saturday morning, New York Giants superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. responded to a tweet indicating that he won’t play in the preseason.
New York Giants fan Stan Hardter (@stanbryan81) tweeted at Odell Beckham Jr. on Friday night: “Zero preseason snaps please.” Beckham responded to Saturday morning by simply saying “0”.
Zero preseason snaps please.
— Stan Hardter (@stanbryan81) February 24, 2018
— Odell Beckham Jr (@OBJ_3) February 24, 2018
Over the past 20 years, the Giants have had an unfortunate history of key players going down in the preseason. Back in 1998, star cornerback Jason Sehorn was lost for the year when he tore his ACL and MCL returning a punt in the preseason against the New York Jets.
Players, especially star players, hate playing in the preseason. So it’s not unusual to see them express their dislike for the exhibition season.
In OBJ’s case, it makes even more sense for him to skip the preseason due to the fact that he severely sprained his left ankle in the Giants Aug. 21 preseason game against the Cleveland Browns when he was hit low by Browns safety Briean Boddy-Calhoun in the second quarter.
OBJ would miss the Giants remaining preseason games and the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, which they lost 19-3.
Beckham, 25, is entering the final year of his contract and stated last season that he wants to be the highest paid player in the NFL. As we all know Beckham’s 2017 season was cut short in Week 5 when he fractured his left ankle in the Giants 27-22 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Suffering his first major injury has probably put even more of an emphasis on getting a huge contract, and more importantly, doing what’s best for his NFL future, whether it’s the same as what the team wants or not.
Whether his response to the tweet is indicating that he won’t play in the preseason to avoid injury, or that he won’t play until he gets a new contract, well, we’ll have to wait and see. But you can be sure that his tweet caught the eye of head coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Dave Gettleman.
