It did not take long for Odell Beckham Jr. to make the first enemy of his Los Angeles Rams career.
After the Rams lost to the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers on Monday, 49ers free safety Jimmie Ward made clear that he was not pleased about Beckham’s hard hit on his opening-drive interception of Matthew Stafford.
“I was just thinking about how Odell came and hit me,” said Ward. “How I’m going to have to pay him back next time I see him. I’ve been waiting a long time to hit him, so hopefully I can catch him.”
Ward has been with the 49ers for his entire career, so it is not like this was two former teammates playfully joking around. You can also see in the video of his remarks below that Ward certainly did not appear to be lighthearted.
What was Jimmie Ward thinking about during his interception?
"I was just thinking about how Odell came and hit me. How I'm going to have to pay him back next time I see him." pic.twitter.com/JsAkyygO93
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 16, 2021
Granted, it did not seem like there was anything particularly flagrant about the hit by Beckham. He was making a football play attempting to jar the ball loose and did not do anything dirty like lead with the helmet. It was a clean shoulder-pad-to-shoulder-pad hit from the looks of it.
Ward has his interpretation of how the play went down though and will look forward to San Francisco’s next meeting with the Rams in Week 18. It was definitely a bit strange for Ward to come at Beckham for the hit though, especially because Ward is known as a hard-hitter himself.
Photo: Jan 13, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers former player Odell Beckham, Jr. in attendance before the College Football Playoff national championship game against the Clemson Tigers at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
