Odell Beckham Jr. wants to be the NFL’s highest-paid player, an admission he made in an “UNINTERRUPTED” video shown above.
"It's (his contract) like the elephant in the room. You don't want to talk about it, but I've gotten to the point in my life where there's no need to not talk about it,” Beckham said.
"I believe that I will be hopefully not just the highest-paid receiver in the league, but the highest-paid, period."
Entering his fourth NFL season, Beckham also somewhat ominously added that football is more of a job for him now than it has been in the past.
"I fear the day they make football not what I love to do anymore, but my job. Now it's starting to slowly become my job. It's not just what I love to do anymore. It's been made clear that it's a business."
In an interview with the New York Post on the eve of training camp, co-owner John Mara reiterated that he wants Beckham to be a Giant for the duration of his career:
“Listen, he’s as exciting a player as we have had on this team in my lifetime, and he brings a lot of energy, a lot of big plays to us. And when you cut through everything else, he actually is a really good kid. He does a lot of wonderful things off the field that people don’t know about. He needs to work on controlling his emotions a little bit more. But when he is on the field, the other teams have to pay attention to him … and he strikes fear into the eyes of the other team. As long as you have that ability, he makes your team better. He just adds a lot to us. We really haven’t had a player like that here for a long time.”
GM Jerry Reese refused on Thursday to discuss any potential Beckham contract negotiations.
Per Spotrac, the game’s highest-paid player, in terms of contract value, is Derek Carr. The Oakland Raiders quarterback recently signed a five-year, $125 million contract. Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts is second with a contract valued at $122.97 million. The highest paid non-quarterback is Denver Broncos’ linebacker Von Miller ($114.5 million).
Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons ($71.256 million) is the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver.