The Giants responded to the distractions and controversies of 2016-17 and a 3-13 season by consciously making all decisions with a focus on steering clear of drama in 2018.
All decisions seemingly, that is, except one:
Odell Beckham Jr.’s contract negotiation, the club’s most important and highest-profile business of its entire offseason, oddly enough has been the glaring exception.
It is the lone instance in which GM Dave Gettleman and ownership have been unafraid to invite distraction rather than preempt it with a solution — from the Giants’ very real OBJ trade talks with NFL teams in March, and management’s very public non-denial song and dance in Orlando on the matter, to the GM’s slow-play on the contract itself.
And while Beckham has played nice so far — seemingly due largely to a consistent and positive dialogue and relationship with head coach Pat Shurmur — his absences from multiple voluntary OTA practices this past week could have marked a slight escalation or friendly reminder from OBJ in his push for a new deal.
The Giants have four more voluntary OTA practices scheduled this Monday through Thursday, with only Monday open to the media. Then comes the following week’s mandatory minicamp June 12-14, Tuesday through Thursday.
Then Beckham will host his third annual ProCamp at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, N.J., on June 16 and 17. Then there will be about six weeks between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp in late July.
Beckham’s absence from a voluntary OTA practice, of course, incurs no fine. But he would be fined up to $60,000 if he skipped the three-day mandatory minicamp and then $30,000 a day if he held out of training camp come late July.
There is no indication yet if and when Beckham intends to go nuclear, but the longer Gettleman waits, the more likely he is to find out — especially because Beckham looked impressively close to full strength in the individual drills he did at the start of the practices last week.
The next time Beckham is in New Jersey, he probably will be physically capable to participate (if he wasn’t already). And rehab is really the last cover the Giants have to conceal where this could be headed.
A year ago, a healthy Beckham skipped all 10 voluntary OTA practices to make a point that he wanted negotiations to begin, but he still attended the mandatory minicamp and training camp — only to badly sprain his left ankle in a preseason game in Cleveland before breaking the same ankle in Week 5 against the Chargers.
This year, Beckham wants a long-term extension before going back on the field and risking another catastrophic injury. It is a more than reasonable sentiment, especially while watching players such as Eagles LB Paul Worrilow and Chargers TE Hunter Henry tear their ACLs in offseason workouts, sidelining them for the 2018 season.
And since Beckham has a record-breaking Nike contract in-hand worth a minimum of around $6 million per year, the $30,000-a-day fine for holding out of training camp is less likely to deter him if he feels he must.
All of this is why it is so intriguing that the Giants, who have gone to great lengths to eliminate drama or controversy from virtually all levels of their organization, have chosen Beckham’s situation to put their collective foot down.
Undoubtedly, this is an indication truly of how tired the Giants had grown of Beckham’s distractions or antics that cast the organization in a less-than-ideal light. As the Daily News has been chronicling objectively for about two years, the relationship was eventually going to reach a breaking point if Beckham’s behavior did not change.
Last season’s 3-13 catastrophe and firings — though largely separate of any Beckham influence — capped by this spring’s Beckham partying video from Paris, finally created the perfect storm and set of circumstances that nearly brought the Giants-OBJ relationship to its end.
Now, though Beckham and the club appear to be on more amicable terms, Gettleman proceeds to slow-play the contract talks. This is seemingly motivated by a couple key factors: first, the GM’s reluctance to pay Beckham’s reportedly desired $20 million-plus annual price tag; and second, the team’s significant leverage in the negotiation.
Beckham’s choice if he doesn’t get a new contract before Week 1 essentially is A) to play for the Giants on the fifth and final year of his rookie contract or B) to not play at all. Interested suitors led by the L.A. Rams have spent draft and financial capital elsewhere and seemingly moved on, so a trade is less likely. Beckham’s only recourse would be to sit out minicamp and/or training camp and then games.
Beckham’s preference is to play this fall, but if the team refuses to give OBJ a new contract before the season starts, it is inviting whatever comes next. And it is certainly possible it will get there, considering comments like co-owner John Mara’s in early May that he “wouldn’t say (there is) a sense of urgency” to complete Beckham’s deal.
There is still time here for Gettleman and assistant GM Kevin Abrams to hammer out a deal with Beckham’s agent, Zeke Sandhu, before the mandatory camp, before training camp, before making OBJ choose between risking his body on the field or taking a stand that escalates this standoff into a public feud.
After all, that is exactly the type of distraction the Giants have been avoiding like the plague this offseason.
That’s why it doesn’t add up that Gettleman would let it get to that point, especially because when the GM reconsidered trading Beckham, he did so knowing the only alternative to trading OBJ was to pay him.
And yet here we are in June with no resolution, and the clock ticking, and Gettleman on the cusp of creating the exact type of drama he was brought here to squash.