Publicly, Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. closed the door on a training camp holdout last weekend, saying he would be there. Privately, Beckham is reportedly still considering it.
Multiple sources in Beckham’s camp told Ralph Vacchiano of SNY that a holdout is still on the table, and multiple sources in the Giants organization told Vacchiano that they’re not sure if he’ll be at training camp or not.
Beckham and the Giants appear to be far apart in contract talks. The Giants want to see Beckham prove that he can be the Beckham of old after missing most of last season with an ankle injury. Beckham believes he deserves to be the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL (Beckham has actually said he deserves to be the highest-paid player in the NFL, although there’s no way he’s going to get more than the top quarterbacks) and if anything his injury last year seems to have strengthened his view that he needs to get paid.
Realistically, the Giants would seem to have more leverage: They have him under contract for $8.459 million this year, and they could franchise him in 2019 and 2020. And given that they’re coming off a 3-13 season and in a rebuilding mode with a new coach and new general manager, they don’t need to feel like they have to satisfy Beckham right now. (Aaron Donald, who went one spot after Beckham in the 2014 NFL draft, may have a better chance of convincing his team to give him a new deal because the Rams are Super Bowl contenders this year and want all their best players on the field.)
The Giants can fine Beckham $40,000 a day for each day he skips training camp.