There are several misconceptions about what went down after the Odell Beckham Jr. interview on ESPN that upset the Giants so strongly they fined him for his comments. Beckham was never told by coach Pat Shurmur he had to apologize to the team. And Beckham never did.
Shurmur learned of what to him — and almost everyone else in the organization — sounded like Beckham ripping Shurmur’s offensive schemes and Eli Manning’s play at quarterback and sharing his dissatisfaction with playing for the Giants not long after he signed a contract extension worth up to $95 million. Shurmur, incensed, challenged Beckham on the remarks Oct. 5 and told the star receiver he had to make it right with his teammates. The next day, Beckham asked for three minutes to speak with the team and Shurmur obliged. Beckham, during the Saturday night team meeting, did not apologize to the team. Instead, he spoke from the heart about what he intended to convey, as far as playing with passion. The next day, the Giants lost to the Panthers 33-31.
Beckham said feels he should not have to apologize “for how I feel” as he attempted to explain why he said what he said in the ESPN interview — which so irked the Giants coaches, front office and ownership that he was fined by the team.
“If I feel bad for anything, I feel bad for one that people have to answer questions about it and not knowing my true intention or where my heart is in the message,” Beckham said in the latest installment of his “I Am More: OBJ Uninterrupted” Facebook series. “I feel bad that the message was, I won’t even put it on someone else, not taken wrongly, but the message was perceived wrong.
“I signed a deal to be here for five years, not knowing the future of the organization, not knowing a new GM, a new coach, what direction that they’re going to be going in. I signed it as an oath of loyalty to New York. There’s no place better to win than here. There’s nothing more I want to do than bring championships to this place. And every year. Not like I want to win one or two. I want to win it for the next 10 years.’’
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