New York Giants: Odell Beckham Jr. should skip 2018 preseason

New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham should politely decline playing in any preseason games until he gets paid the money he deserves.

Everybody involved in contract negotiations between the New York Giants and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. are handling the situation about as well as possible. Beckham proved he is a man of his word and didn’t hold out. New York ownership hasn’t panicked and awarded the 25-year old with a massive contact unheard of for a player at the position, and the club has spoken positively about the team’s top playmaker.

We don’t have to wonder if Beckham would skip the entire preseason if awarded the opportunity. Back in February, Beckham joked (or “joked” depending on how you view the matter) about partaking in zero future preseason snaps. He suffered a leg injury during an exhibition game at the Cleveland Browns last August, and a fractured ankle shortened his campaign after he appeared in only four games.

Nobody can deny Beckham made the correct decision showing up to training camp. Accidents and injuries occur during practices, but he needed to do right by new head coach Pat Shurmur and also avoid giving co-owner John Mara any excuse to not get a deal done before summer ends. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, teaches the famous adage. Beckham embraced that in July.

As great as all of that is, those in Beckham’s camp must remind him that he is a business and a brand unto himself, and that his value disappears if he suffers a career-threatening injury. Taking any hits before putting pen to paper on a contract extension is risky. Doing so during contests that literally don’t matter one bit is just plain silly.

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This doesn’t have to be all that big of a deal. Fans likely would appreciate knowing Beckham wouldn’t be in danger of low hits or other tackles that could cost him regular-season time. As long as Shurmur and the front office were agreeable and didn’t fine Beckham for skipping games, there’s no reason going down this route should affect the negotiation process. Some in the locker room would probably be jealous of Beckham, but they’d also understand he has to look out for No. 1.

Barring an unforeseen circumstance, Beckham is going to earn more money on a single contract than any other wide receiver before him. If the Giants don’t want to pay him, some other team with available salary cap space, such as the Cleveland Browns, will. Not only should Beckham skip preseason games unless the two entities sign a new deal. He shouldn’t entertain the idea of performing at a discount until September.

When the Giants drafted Penn State running back Saquon Barkley instead of one of the top available QBs to sit behind quarterback Eli Manning, the team unofficially announced its intentions to compete for a championship later this year. That decision gave Beckham more power in contract talks than before the draft. New York can’t trade him. The Giants wouldn’t receive equal value, and the transaction would make it that much harder to return to a .500 record, let alone a postseason game.

Those who would suggest Beckham requires reps coming off an injury and featuring for a new coaching staff should examine his rookie campaign that started late after he missed months because of lingering hamstring issues. He broke records once able to start. In short, he’ll be just fine watching the handful of drives he would have been on the field for in August.

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Beckham showed he is a team player by arriving on time as expected. The belief, as of the typing of this sentence, is that he wouldn’t sit for a down of regular-season football in any type of holdout. He doesn’t owe the Giants any more than that at this stage of the process. He’s the face of the franchise even before Manning and the club parts ways, however that will occur down the road.

Pay the man, Mr. Mara, or let him sit until Sept. 9.

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