Eli Manning isn’t going to scold Odell Beckham, the New York Giants quarterback not likely to wrap the knuckles of his enigmatic wide receiver. But Manning will speak with his star wider receiver, this after another tumultuous offseason for Beckham, who did show up on Monday for offseason workouts.
It seems to be a constant thread every offseason for Beckham to create a stir, and this offseason is no different for Beckham, who is coming off a season-ending knee injury and is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Giants need to decide on Beckham’s future, this as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. In many ways, Beckham also needs to decide on his own future.
There are the off-field issues including Beckham’s frequent meltdowns and questionable choices during the season. Beckham didn’t attend workouts this offseason with Manning and his fellow wide receivers at Duke but the quarterback said no harm, no foul on this one.
“No, I talked to Odell and it was just a matter of what he’s doing in his rehab to get back healthy and it just wasn’t going to make sense for him to kind of make that trip if you can’t do all the routes and do everything,” Beckham said on Monday during a conference call with the media.
“He’s got his thing through the Giants and what he’s doing and they have their plan for his rehab and I didn’t want to get into that, so we were on the same page, talked about it and it just didn’t make sense. I kind of picked a few guys so that they could get work and then there were a number of guys I could have invited down also, but I only have one arm and I didn’t want to overthrow or have guys not get the good work because there is only one quarterback. But we got some good work when we were down there.”
Beckham has been at the center of trade talks this offseason, with nearly all the speculation coming from fans and the media. While it makes some sense for the Giants to consider trading their biggest asset on offense, nothing has come of these talks yet.
He hasn’t always made the best choices away from the football field, something that leads him to being an awfully big distraction around these parts.
But while questionable videos surface and Beckham continues to create a stir, Manning didn’t sound the alarm. He admits he will give the star wide receiver some advice but didn’t sound worried about Beckham’s antics.
“Odell, he’s got to do what is best for him in getting ready to play this upcoming season,” Manning said on the call. “I’ll talk to him and give my two cents on everything, but he’s got to do what he feels is best for him to get ready and play at a high level.”
