At least one New York Giant has zero issue with Odell Beckham Jr.’s decision to skip OTAs.
After the wide receiver’s decision to skip the voluntary workouts sparked something of a firestorm, Giants guard Justin Pugh told NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Monday that he felt the criticism of Beckham was completely over the top.
“Odell, I’ve been with him for three, four years now. I know how he is,” Pugh said, via Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports. “It’s gotta be tough being him though. I always try to look at things from his perspective and see what he goes through. I see that, and I’m like, ‘Come in, get ready to work,’ he’s in great shape. I wonder if we could get a list of all the guys that didn’t go to OTAs. I guarantee, put them all together and they didn’t get as much publicity as Odell.
“He’s the biggest name in our game. You go anywhere in the world and people are going to recognize Odell Beckham. So obviously him not being there is a big deal. But he showed up in great shape, ready to roll. I’m good with it. … There’s things going on during OTAs. He has a lot of stuff going on in his life, probably more than an offensive lineman has going on. Hey, he’s ready to go.”
Beckham has said he’s ready, and he was working out on his own despite not being at OTAs. This will inevitably happen because he’s such a huge name in a huge market coming off a bitterly disappointing end to 2016, but Beckham seems good to go and his teammates don’t seem bothered by what has gone on.
