After all the evaluations, the study of what he did in college, the interviews and meetings, the Giants and Tom Coughlin still don’t really know Odell Beckham Jr.
Sure, he’s their first-round draft pick, a speed receiver they expect will play a huge role in their offense, not in the future but right away. But as Beckham continues to sit out with a right hamstring strain he revealed still has some blood in the muscle, the head coach cannot know how Beckham will deal with this, how much desire he has to get back on the field, how much this pains him to miss such valuable time.
And so, Tuesday morning the two sat down for a discussion, which was not about clearing the air as much as it was about finding common ground. Coughlin has grown increasingly cranky every day Beckham misses and that can be construed as souring on the player. Beckham is worried about making a bad first impression and Coughlin is frustrated with the injury, not the player, and he wanted to make sure the rookie realizes the urgency of the situation.
“We just had a discussion, that’s all,’’ Coughlin said. “A player-coach, trying to get to know each other better, trying to make him understand I see his frustration and he sees our frustration. But don’t make anything more of it than it is.
“It’s a coach wanting the player on the field and the player wanting the player on the field. It’ll happen, and when you’re cleared to go you’ll go and you’re going to earn the respect of your teammates by virtue of what you do on the field. You study and work right now.’’
That’s about all Beckham can do, other than stand and field a few punts every now and then and catch a few balls off the Jugs gun before going inside for therapy. Beckham believes he will “definitely be playing in the preseason games,’’ but he won’t play in Sunday night’s Hall of Fame Game against the Bills as he continues to while away the hours and days dealing with his balky hamstring.
Beckham said tests on Monday revealed he still has blood in his hamstring, which means there’s still an injury that needs to heal. He insists he’s “day-to-day’’ but more likely, the rookie will not be on the field running full speed for at least another week and, perhaps, longer.
“I’m one of those guys when it’s time to go, I only know one speed and it’s 100 percent,’’ Beckham said. “It’s just one of those things that’s frustrating. You push it and you push yourself to the limits that sometimes you can’t reach. It’s something that will get fixed and in the future it will get better.’’
Beckham’s problem started in the spring when he tweaked the hamstring after only a few days of workouts. He missed time in the organized team activity practices but, after a month training and rehabbing in Arizona, he felt he was ready to go for his first NFL training camp.
Last Tuesday, in the first practice of camp, Beckham ran a deep route against cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie but never finished the route. He said he stepped on Rodgers-Cromartie’s cleat, overstretched his right leg and “felt a little pinch.’’
All this missed time makes Coughlin’s skin crawl and so he summoned for Beckham to make sure they are seeing this injury situation the same way.
“I know I’m new and we don’t know each other that well,’’ Beckham said. “Over time you get to know people. The bad part about it is your first impression is the one that lasts forever so you don’t ever want to leave a bad impression. At the same time try to reassure him, he knows how hard it is for me to not be practicing.
“I talked to coach Coughlin and like he said, it’s frustrating and it’s on both ends. He wants me out there as bad as I want to be out there. It’s just kind of like you work so hard to get where you’re at now and it’s like you can’t go out there and do the one thing you love to do. It’s hard to just take that all the time and then have your coach at the same time be frustrated. You’re just trying to play both sides of it.’’