Odell Beckham Jr missed the final four games of the season with the New York Giants last year with what was described as a quad injury, and there was a lot of confusion over the exact extent of the ailment and how long it would keep him out. Boomer Esiason has one theory about why that was.
Esiason, a former NFL quarterback turned CBS analyst and radio host, believes Beckham was faking or embellishing the injury so he had an excuse to not play. He told Ryan Dunleavy of NJ Advance Media that Beckham quit on the Giants.
“Odell took himself off the field last year for four games after making $19 million,” Esiason said. “That takes a lot of chestnuts.”
Beckham signed a massive contract extension with the Giants prior to the season, but his relationship with the front office appeared to sour more and more every week. The Giants wanted him to take on a leadership role after signing his new deal, but Beckham openly criticized Eli Manning and had one of the team’s owners essentially tell him to shut up and play. Esiason believes he had no motivation to play in the final four weeks because he only cared about his own stats.
“I don’t know. He had 1,000 yards and (six) touchdowns or something. ‘OK, I’m good. As long as I get my 1,000-yard season,'” Boomer said.
The quad injury was a bit of a mystery, with Beckham visiting a specialist and the Giants saying they expected him back before the end of the season. While it seems unlikely that he would completely invent an injury, it’s possible Beckham was banged up and simply didn’t want to push through it.
