How do you deal with a problem like Odell Beckham Jr.? Jon Gruden knows exactly what he would do.
The former NFL coach and current ESPN analyst said he would sit Beckham down until he has his head in the right place.
“I don’t think this is as difficult as maybe some people — he’s had some problems,” Gruden told ESPN’s Mike & Mike on Wednesday, via Andrew Joseph of ForTheWin. “I think he’s been fined five times. I think he’s been suspended by the league already. He’s not playing great football. He’s got no touchdowns. Zero. And I’ve seen him drop passes at the end of the game against New Orleans, Washington — he dropped one the other night. I thought he quit on a route that the ball was intercepted on.
“I don’t want to see anymore one-handed catches, honestly. He’s not playing up to his standard. How much are you gonna tolerate? I think that’s a question that Ben McAdoo, the head coach of the Giants, is faced with. You can tolerate more with some players than others. Obviously, he’s very talented, but like I said, he’s dropping passes. I’ve taken guys out of the game for that. I think that’s what needs to be done.”
Gruden said that Beckham is simply making too many mistakes to play.
“Sit him down for a while,” Gruden concluded. “I know he’s a great player. But I’ve taken guys down for dropping passes, lining up wrong, missing an audible, blowing an assignment, committing penalties, not being reliable.”
Reliability certainly seems to be Beckham’s issue, plus the fact that by his own admission, he’s not enjoying himself. He does seem to need his head cleared, but do the Giants have time to do that?
