WR Odell Beckham Jr.
July 31, 2016
Q: So you just got cleated?
A: Yes, just stepped on, tangled up. Competitive guys, we’re going at it in practice, nothing too bad. Just take it day by day, let it take its course.
Q: Was it cut, was it bleeding?
A: It’s football. It happens. Like I said, you have two guys competing out here, we want to get each other better every day. I go against some of the top corners in the league every single day, which is truly a privilege. You get to work, you get to get beat, you get to beat, so it’s a lot of fun going against these guys. It’s just a matter of keeping everybody, you know we all work together.
Q: What did they do for you Odell? Just wrap it up?
A: They’ll take care of it, it’ll be alright.
Q: Was it scary in the beginning? When you were down you were flexing?
A: Anytime you go down, you don’t want to get injured. Obviously nobody wants to be hurt and I’ve been down that road before, so just make sure that you’re straight, get up, shake it off. Alright it’s still a little, ok, you’ll be alright. It’s football, we go down. I’ve been worse, so I’m alright.
Q: So you intend to practice Tuesday?
A: That’s not my call. If it feels like that, then it feels like that. We just take it day by day. I don’t know how it’s going to feel three hours from now, I don’t know how it’s going to feel tomorrow. Just kind of let t play out.
Q: Before that, you had a couple of nice long catches, how were you feeling?
A: I was feeling good. The first day we came out, the DB’s really gave us work and it was the first time coming back. It’s just a lot of fun to be able to compete and to be able to go against DRC and Jenk every day, there’s really not much more you could ask for. It’s just a matter of getting those good reps in. You don’t have as many reps as you would like, so you have to take the ones that you have and utilize them and put the most effort into them. I mean, it’s always fun catching a pass, it’s always fun, so just trying to work every day.
Q: Have you and Janoris talked about what happened?
A: No, I haven’t seen him yet, but like I said, we compete. It wasn’t anything like he did it on purpose, obviously not. We both wear blue, we’re both on the Giants, so obviously we both want to see each other out there. It’s just a matter of taking care of each other, working together and still competing all in the same.
Q: What was bothering you when you were trying to get back on the field? It seemed like you were kind of stretching and stuff?
A: After I went down, it was kind of just ‘you’re done for the day.’ There’s plenty more days in camp so we’ll be alright. Minor setback for the time being, I guess, the hours, the day or whatever.
Q: Was it bloody, was it cut?
A: Yes, there was a little blood shed, some blood on the shoes. Some customs, so it just matched it.
Q: On his shoes?
A: No, it was on my shoes. A friend of mine does the custom shoes and he made some Dexter shoes, which had blood all over them, and then I got a little blood on my leg, so it kind of just matched it, blended in.
Q: So this is all just a big marketing thing?
A: It’s all just marketing Kickasso’s custom cleats.
Q: Guys who compete hate taking that ride on the cart, I have to imagine. Were you convinced to hop on and take the ride?
A: It wasn’t that. The training room looked awfully far from here and just to avoid any extra stress on it or anything like that, it was the easiest thing. I would much rather walk it off, I was going to walk this way, but I saw all of you over here and I know it would’ve been picture after picture as I walked by, so I took the long way around to just kind of avoid some unnecessary pictures.
Q: So you’re going to go camera shy on us now?
A: Those are just not the pictures I need. I didn’t want to cause…obviously when you leave practice, you’re going to cause somewhat of a distraction, but I didn’t want to cause any more than what needs to be. Right now we’re really focused on what our goals are and what this team is trying to do and I can’t really explain how excited I am about that. Being on a team where you feel a winning atmosphere, a team that has a chance to really compete this year.
Q: Could you evaluate for us the wide receiver competition? Because since you’ve been here, I think this is the deepest the wide receiver room has been.
A: It’s a tough room and we say that all the time. You’re in there and you’re getting criticized if you could have made a play, you should’ve made it because there’s somebody else who can make it. There are 12 guys in there and all of them are capable of being on the field. A guy like me, I wouldn’t want to miss any reps because somebody else could come in and they’re going to make plays. That’s what we’re all here for, we’re here to compete. Some guys are stepping up big and some guys, we need to step up even more. This is day three. It all blends together after the first day, but the receivers, I feel as if we are looking good and competing against the DB’s every day, who are giving us great work. Like I said, you just have to keep fighting for a spot.
Q: What do you know about this No. 80 guy (Victor Cruz)?
A: I’ve watched him a couple times before I ever got into the NFL, I may have taken some pages out of his book. Like I tell him, and it’s hard for me to sit there and tell him and take the same advice, that it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We’re guys who, back in college I used to go almost every rep in practice and you would go hard and that’s the way that you trained yourself. You just have to, it’s a lot longer season, there’s a lot more that goes into it, so just trying to stay patient for both of us, understanding what’s ahead of us, where we would like to be when we need to be there.
Q: It must be gratifying to see him out there, right?
A: I told you already. Every time you see him out there, I’ve been wanting to play with him for a long time and obviously he’s had his setbacks, but he’s ready to take that Comeback Player of the Year award, for sure. I’m looking forward to him having a phenomenal season.
Q: If that’s your Victor smile, then what’s your Eli smile and how has he looked so far?
A: Straight face.
Q: Why is that?
A: That’s just how he is. He’s very business-like when we’re here. He’ll clown in the locker room, he Dikembe Mutombo’d me earlier. I was trying to make it in the trash can and he swatted it, I had to dodge it. We have our fun and our needs to, but when we get out here we really like to take a different approach. Like I said, you don’t get as many reps so you want to make sure that every one of them counts. You want to make sure you’re doing your thing right; you’ve got the right assignment down. Like I said, just building this team up, looking forward to the season.
Q: He’s won two Super Bowls and you know what he can do. What would it mean for you to get back on a playoff run with him as your quarterback?
A: Now you’re speaking my language. I just care about winning, period. I hate losing. It doesn’t matter what it is, we’re playing marbles, spades, video games, I just don’t like losing. Obviously he knows what it takes to win. He’s got two of them and his brother has got two of them, so I’m sure he’s got to bring one home this year to be able to stick his chest out a little bit in that household of legends, really. I think he’s excited about the opportunity, more than excited. Like I said, I’m just looking forward to being a part of it.
Q: Odell, when you worked out with Lebron a couple weeks ago, what are you picking his brain about?
A: Just came off the championship series of a lifetime. Really, his legacy and everything else was on the line if you think about it from a realistic standpoint. He’s been to the Finals, he’s lost before, he left Cleveland, he came back. He lost the first one when he came back. This one just put the icing on the cake for me as far as going through adversity, as far as being able to handle everything that’s been thrown his way, and then after winning, still having the crave, the addiction, to want more. I remember I got in late on a flight and my sleep schedule was all messed up. I came from across the country pretty much and I was just up. It just so happened that Maverick Carter, a guy that I work with closely, and he texted me and asked me what I was doing. I texted him right back because I was wide awake and I was on my phone and said, you know, I was just chilling, trying to find somewhere to work out, and he said he was going to work out with ‘Bron right now. I just put on my shoes and went. It was about six in the morning in LA. It was just good to be able to work out with him. Obviously you see what it takes and what he is doing even after what he’s already done. I don’t want to say I gained a new level of respect for him because I already have the utmost respect for him. He’s my favorite athlete and the one that I look to the most, so it was just cool, just a cool experience for me to be able to go down and work with him.
Q: Does anybody have more of an addiction for winning than you, do you think?
A: I’m sure there are guys out there that don’t like to lose.
Q: For a championship?
A: To be honest, I don’t know. I feel like I’ve been a decent player all my life, been on some good teams, but I’ve never been able to put the icing on the cake. Got to the championship, blown out in my home town. Peewee football championship, I think I won one and then they called a flag and took a championship from us. Basketball in fourth grade, I remember they hit a game winning shot and everybody thought it was over, but I caught the ball, threw it all the way down the court and made it and I’m running down the court like I won the game and the refs are like ‘what happened’, so that was a championship taken from me, so I’ve never been able to call myself a champion and there’s got to be no better feeling than seeing the confetti fall and knowing that all the hard work since July 28 and even before that leading up to it and that all was worth it in the end.
Q: What is your reaction so far playing against Eli Apple?
A: He’s a guy that has tremendous talent. It just comes down to making the right decisions, learning how to trust himself more. He’s 20 years old, I think, so he’s going to be here for a long time. It’s just a matter of getting each other right and letting him know that this is X, Y and Z and this is why you got beat or this is why he was able to cover, it’s about working with each other. I think he’s going to be a phenomenal player.
Q: So you talk to him about this stuff?
A: Oh yeah, we talk. I was talking to him before. We talk, we all want to communicate, we all want to get on the same page.
Q: When you were down after being cleated, did you hear the whole field house go silent the way it did and do you feel like you dodged a bullet?
A: Yes, I like to move a little, bit but I feel like in the moment, at that exact time, understand what’s going on around me. It’s more that I was checking in internally. Am I ok? Ok, what is it that hurt? Alright. Just making sure everything is good. It’s not so much I could hear or feel the silence, but I know I would never want to worry my teammates if I don’t have to, so I am going to try and get up and try and get out of the way and let them keep working and get off to the side and see what’s going on and go from there.
