Odell Beckham receives advice from Cris Carter: ‘Time for you to grow up’
Odell Beckham Jr. of the Giants warms up prior to their game against the Detroit Lions at MetLife Stadium on September 18, 2017 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Getty Images / Al Bello
Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter has served as a trainer and mentor for Odell Beckham Jr. in the last few years. Now he’s delivering some tough love for the Giants star in the wake of an unflattering video that went viral over the weekend.
“I’m so disappointed and I expect better from him,” Carter said on FoxSports1’s “First Things First” on Monday morning. “It’s enough with the excuses. Time for you to grow up and stop being a little boy. If you want to be a national brand, damn act like it. If you want someone to pay you as the highest-paid receiver in the history of the game, damn act like it.”
Beckham, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract, was filmed last week in bed with a woman, a pepperoni pizza and what many interpreted to be drugs. The seven-second video hit the internet on Friday.
“Enough is enough,” Carter said. “I’m sick of talking about him and the negative aspects. I can’t talk about him and his releases. I can’t talk about him catching the ball in traffic. Why? Because of this. This matters. Your image in sports will always matter. And you are in sports. You are not some rapper. You are in the NFL. You are under contract with the New York Football Giants. Act like it matters. Because they’ve had other Giants players along their career, it didn’t matter to them. And it affected their arc as far as how great we consider them to be.”
Carter made a reference to fellow Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor and his many off-field distractions. “Until this day, he still does not have his life under control,” Carter, who had his share of similar demons, said of Taylor. “To see another great athlete and to see that happen to them, I will not sit here and act like this is normal. No, it’s not normal.”
Ultimately, Carter offered to continue serving Beckham as a mentor despite his objections to the most recent incident.
“This guy is an unbelievable talent, as talented as anyone I have ever seen,” Carter said. “So I am disgusted with the whole thing. OBJ, call me, man. Enough of this stupidness.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter on Sept. 5, 2016. Credit: Getty Images / Streeter Lecka
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.
