Giants Owner Wants 'More Playing and a Little Less Talking' From Odell Beckham Jr.

Giants Owner Wants ‘More Playing and a Little Less Talking’ From Odell Beckham Jr.

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Odell Beckham Jr. was critical of the Giants’ offense in an interview with ESPN this month.CreditCreditAl Bello/Getty Images

By Field Level Media

Oct. 16, 2018

The Giants owner John Mara is ready for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to make more headlines on the field and cease fire behind the microphone.

“I think he needs to do a little more playing and a little less talking,” Mara said at the N.F.L.’s fall owners meetings on Tuesday.

Mara said the Giants, who are 1-5, are embarrassed to be at the bottom of the N.F.C. East and N.F.L. standings entering Week 7. Eli Manning, their 37-year-old quarterback, has been the subject of much of the criticism directed at the team.

“It’s not just him,” Mara said of Manning, who took multiple questions last week about his ability to play at a high level in the aftermath of last week’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. “It’s pretty disappointing. I’m sick about it.

“When you’re 1-5, generally it means everybody has to play better.”

Mara said he did not confront Beckham about his interview with ESPN this month, in which the receiver expressed frustration at the team’s offense, but Fox Sports reported that Beckham had been fined by the team. Beckham also was asked by Coach Pat Shurmur, described in the Fox report as “livid,” to apologize to the team for being critical of Manning and the offense in general.

Despite the criticism of Manning, the Giants remain convinced they drafted the best player available at No. 2 in the 2018 draft when they picked running back Saquon Barkley, and not quarterback Sam Darnold, who went one slot later, to the Jets.

With Manning’s production down, the focus on the Giants’ decision to forgo a quarterback in favor of a running back has come under renewed scrutiny.

Mara said he still believes Barkley was “the best player in the draft.”

Beckham signed a six-year, $103 million contract before the start of the 2018 season and said at a news conference announcing the deal that he had learned from past flare-ups on and off the field.

In the latest episode of I Am More, a documentary series featuring Beckham that is produced by Uninterrupted, Beckham said he would not apologize for his comments to ESPN.

“I’m sorry that I’m not gonna apologize from my heart,” Beckham said in the episode, which was published on Friday. “I don’t feel like you deserve an apology, for one, and I don’t feel like it’s necessary for me to apologize for how I feel.”

Beckham did say in the episode that his delivery could have been better.

“Like I really went hard this off-season to repair myself — mind, body and soul — and put me back together, to be able to come here and do what? Do the same thing that I was just doing?” he said. “I worked way too hard to just even be able to play football again. I’m not gonna be O.K. with being mediocre. I’m not gonna be O.K. with being average.”

Mara said Tuesday he had confidence the Giants had the right staff members in place — General Manager Dave Gettleman and Shurmur — to produce winning results.

Gettleman made multiple roster moves Tuesday, adding wide receiver Bennie Fowler from the practice squad and placing Cody Latimer on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. Linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong (concussion) also went on the injured reserve, and cornerback Donte Deayon was waived. The Giants also elevated linebacker Ukeme Eligwe and cornerback Grant Haley from the practice squad.