Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Giants aren’t happy with Odell Beckham Jr., but they’re not going to do anything about it.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, there will be no “on-field discipline” for Beckham during Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers. Which means he won’t be benched for all or part of Sunday’s game at Tampa, or otherwise see his reps limited.
Earlier this week, co-owner John Mara emailed the New York Post to explain that he is “very unhappy” with Beckham’s vulgar touchdown celebration, and that the issue would be handled internally.
Coach Ben McAdoo echoed the “handle it internally” sentiment, but no one is saying what if anything the Giants did. Strongly-worded memo? A stern talking-to?
As the Giants hope Beckham will mature, at some point words need to become action or he’ll realize (if he hasn’t already) that if he’s willing to endure the internal tongue-lashing he’ll still be able to do whatever he wants to do.
However it gets resolved, it needs to happen before the Giants give Beckham his long-term contract. Providing him with long-term financial security definitely won’t make the situation better; if anything, it will make him feel even more invincible, especially if the contract includes the kind of signing bonus that makes the cap hit for trading him impossible to absorb.
And then there’s the prospect of trading him. The possibility emerged last season in connection with Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, and from time to time some wonder whether the end game for the Giants will be to trade Beckham. That remains unlikely, in part because there’s no reason to think that Beckham wants out.
At some point, however, Beckham needs to show the team that he’s all in. Far too often, he fails.