Is Odell Beckham Jr. the NFL’s villain?
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham (13) looks on before a preseason game against the New England Patriots on Sept. 1, 2016. Credit: Lee S Weissman
Is Odell Beckham Jr. the NFL’s villain?
“I don’t know if I’m necessarily liked anywhere, really,” the wide receiver admitted on Wednesday when asked if he thinks the Cowboys, this Sunday’s opponent, still resent him for the one-handed catch he made against them as a rookie two seasons ago. “It just is what it is when we’re on the field. Off the field, there’s no hard feelings for me anywhere. At the end of the day, it’s football. I can’t control who resents, likes, doesn’t like, in a sense. We just go out there, handle our business, play football and keep it moving from there.”
Beckham’s chief nemesis, of course, comes to town in Week 3 when Washington and cornerback Josh Norman face the Giants. The two have exchanged plenty of verbal jabs since last year’s game between the Giants and Panthers when they were involved in a series of on-field altercations and Beckham lost his cool and launched himself at Norman to draw a one-game suspension.
Since then Norman has said that other defensive players have put “a hit out” on Beckham. In an upcoming book chronicling the Panthers’ 2015 season Norman says “I don’t care for that guy at all” and “every time I see him, I’m going to hit him in the mouth.”
“I’m more focused on this year and accomplishing the goals that we have set out,” Beckham said on Wednesday in regard to his persona among other teams. He did say that he doesn’t know why he has become tagged with this reputation.
“I have fun,” he said. “I’m myself at all times and I don’t think it’s necessarily liked all the time, unless you’re on my side. I can’t really control that. Like I said, I can’t control who likes, doesn’t like, likes me. It’s football at this point.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
