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Thomas Davis: Odell Beckham can be “a cancer” for Giants

Carolina linebacker takes shot at Giants’ star

New York Giants v Washington Redskins Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Carolina Panthers’ linebacker Thomas Davis, one of the NFL’s most respected players, issued just about the harshest criticism one player can of another on Sunday, saying of New York Giants’ star Odell Beckham Jr. that he can be “a cancer” due to his emotions.

"We all can agree that Odell is a great player," Davis said Sunday on NFL Network's NFL GameDay Morning. "When you think about Odell and what he's able to do on the football field, it's truly special. But it's very important for him this weekend to make sure that he controls his emotions. Whenever he goes out and he plays and he controls he's emotions he's huge for that team.

"But when he goes out and he allows his emotions to get the best of him, he's a cancer for that football team and you can see it. It's evident. When we played him, you could see him and Josh [Norman] going back and forth, you can see that the whole team was getting caught up in that and they weren't focused in the first half. That's why we were able to jump out to a big lead. They kind of settled down later in the second half of the football game and they were able to come back. It was just really evident that they were not a focused bunch when he was doing all of that."

Beckham’s biggest emotional outburst, of course, came against Davis and the Panthers last season when he was penalized three times for his actions against then-Carolina cornerback Josh Norman. There have been a couple of displays this season, including Beckham taking a swipe at a kicking net.

Beckham admitted earlier this week that his emotions were already bubbling over.

What do you think, Giants fans? Is Davis’ criticism warranted, or over the top?