New York Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. said there would be no holdout, but the star receiver may not have made up his mind just yet.
Odell Beckham Jr. may have taken the field at mandatory minicamp, but his training camp may be up in the air once more.
SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano has reported that the possibility of a Beckham training camp holdout has resurfaced, claiming members of Beckham’s team have hinted that he won’t take the field until a new Giants contract is signed. This comes just a week after Vacchiano previously reported that Beckham said there would be no such delay, with the receiver briefly saying “No, no holdout” at Beckham’s youth football camp.
Beckham, 25, is entering the final year of his initial NFL contract, a four-year deal worth just over $10 million. In April, the Giants exercised a fifth-year option worth just under $8.5 million, but discussion about a new deal have been preliminary at best.
Both sides have been mum over the lack of progress, though rumors have circulated that the Giants want to see how Beckham has recovered from an ankle injury that ended his 2017 season, suffered in an October game.
Beckham took the field for mandatory minicamp earlier this month, and ran routes with his fellow receivers, though he did not partake in team drills.
Head coach Pat Shurmur seemed confident that Beckham would be ready to go for training camp, which unofficially begins on July 25, when veterans will report to Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
“I’m not worried about it and neither is he,” Shurmur said after minicamp, according to transcripts on Giants.com “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I look at a player that loves football, he’s out there right now doing his thing and he wants to be here and as the coach and the player, that’s what we talk about.”
Per Vacchiano, the Giants could fine Beckham $40,000 for each missed day of training camp, as well as $497,588 (just over five percent of his salary) for missing a preseason game.
New York Giants preseason opens on August 9 against Cleveland.
