Memo to all NFL defensive backs: Your efforts to reside under the skin and/or inside the brain of receiver Odell Beckham Jr. are working.
A day after his latest in-game meltdown, Beckham bemoaned the manner in which his career has gone recently, with a potentially ominous message about his future.
“Football is my sanctuary,” Beckham told Anita Marks of ESPN New York, via ESPN.com. “It’s where I go to escape. It’s where I’m most happy. I’m not having fun anymore.”
Nearly as significant as Beckham making a statement that will invite defensive backs to keep harassing him until he quits the sport was Beckham’s first tangible suggestion that his frustrations extend not just to how he’s treated by opponents, but by how he’s treated by his team.
“What I’m communicating, we’re not doing,” Beckham said regarding conversations he’s having on the sidelines about improving the performance of the offense — and, of course, getting the ball in his hands more often. “I’m not getting the opportunities to contribute, and that’s frustrating to me.”
For the first time, there’s real reason to believe that Beckham won’t be finishing his career with the Giants, and that his career may be finished far earlier than anyone would have expected. However hard it’s been for him to avoid agitation from opponents and scrutiny from the media, it’s about to get even harder.