Some of the best photos of Odell Beckham Jr this offseason
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Odell Beckham Jr. is frustrated a sore hamstring is preventing him from practicing with his Giants teammates. Tom Coughlin isn't pleased about Beckham's continued absence, either. Today, the team's first-round draft choice and head coach met to discuss their shared aggravation.
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Coughlin would like his newest offensive weapon to practice immediately if not sooner, but must wait until Beckham is cleared by the team's medical staff. Beckham has not practiced since last Tuesday.
"We just had a discussion," Coughlin said. "Just player-coach, trying to get to know each other a little better. I see his frustration and he sees our frustration. But don't make it more than what it is. It's a coach wanting a player on the field and a player wanting a player on the field. It'll happen and when you're cleared to go, you'll go. You're going to earn the respect of your teammates by what you do on the field and how well you study and work right now."
Beckham, the 12th overall selection in the draft, didn't want to make news because of an injury. The former LSU star welcomed the opportunity today to convey to his head coach that he very much wants to be on the field.
"We had that talk today and it was just kind of like, 'I'm new and we don't know each other so well,'" Beckham said. "Over time you get to know people. The bad part about it is your first impression is going to last forever. You don't ever want to leave a bad impression but at the same time, I'm just trying to reassure him that, he knows how hard it is for me to not be practicing. I'm a high-energy guy. I always loved practicing at LSU. I love practicing now. For me, it's never really been about days off. It's just been about getting better each and every day."
Beckham's frustration is exacerbated because his hamstring has been an issue for a while. He missed several workouts in June because the muscle was strained. Beckham was on the field early in camp, but in the last week he's been limited to catching passes and punts from a JUGS machine. During practice, he often stands next to wide receivers coach Sean Ryan or offensive assistant coach Ryan Roeder, who relays the call to Beckham and test him on his assignment on the play.
"I'm getting all the mental reps you can, learning all the signals," Beckham said. "That's really been as much as I can do. Catch balls when I can, stay up with your receiving skills. It's tough to just sit there. It's not the most fun thing in the world to be trying to learn the playbook without actually getting to act on it. The biggest thing for me is just with patience and just continuing to dig deep in the playbook."
Yesterday in New York, Beckham's hamstring was the subject of a thorough examination.
"(They found) just heavy inflammation and blood in the hamstring," Beckham said. "The trainers are just taking it day-by-day. Whatever happens is what happens. It's up to them right now on the length, however long it's going to be."
Beckham originally injured the hamstring when he was running a pass pattern against Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in an organized team activity. "My foot got caught in his cleat and I just overstretched it," he said.
In the month before training camp, Beckham continued training and receiving treatment on his hamstring. He was able to run when he reported to camp. Beckham concedes he might have pushed himself too hard to return to the field as quickly as possible.
"That's just my natural instinct," he said. "I'm one of those guys who, when it's time to go, I only know one speed, and that's 100 percent. It's just one of those things that's frustrating. You push it and you push yourself to the limits that sometimes you can't reach. It's something that will get fixed and in the future it will be better.
"With hamstrings there's stuff that gets built up in there and it takes a while for it to get out. I'm sure that there was still something there, not that you could see or not that you could note just from looking at it. But it's just one of those things that once you start digging deep you find out about it."
As he told Coughlin, Beckham is eager to return to the field as quickly as possible. But he and the team's doctors and trainers are going to be smart and wait until the hamstring is fully healed.
"It's one of those things that takes time," Beckham said. "You have to be patient with it and not let it get you frustrated or mentally upset or anything like that. My head's in the right place. I'm just looking forward to getting past this."
So are the Giants.
