Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Odell Beckham Deserves More from the Giants

Odell Beckham Jr. is terribly underpaid, the top five receivers in football, and the NFL's most controversial ref has his crew shaken up—all that, and we haven't even officially started summer.

1. Odell vs. the Giants

Odell Beckham Jr. may not be happy with his contract. Or maybe he is fine with it. He isn't really saying. But after he skipped the Giants' voluntary OTAs, Beckham's relatively modest contract has become a matter of debate.

Does he have reason to be upset?

Consider what some other top wideouts in the sport make.

At the top of the list, according to OverTheCap.com, which tracks player salary info as well as any site, Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown makes an average of $17 million a year ($19 million total in guaranteed money for the life of his deal).

There's A.J. Green ($15 million average, $26.8 million guaranteed), Julio Jones ($14.3 million average, $35.5 million guaranteed) and Dez Bryant ($14 million average, $32 million guaranteed).

Sixth on the list is Indianapolis' T.Y. Hilton. Surely Beckham must rank near Hilton. Nope, but DeSean Jackson does. Then we get down to Randall Cobb...Brandon LaFell...Julian Edelman. On and on the salary list goes...and goes...until...

Oh, look, there's Beckham, maybe the most explosive receiver in football, who has been averaging $2.6 million a year with $10.4 million guaranteed on his current deal, which has one year left. Beckham will earn about $1.8 million this season.

That's not chump change to the average worker. But he's a football player, and one of the best at this time, and he is woefully underpaid compared to others who hold the same job.

That is why veteran players told me in interviews that Beckham should hold out of training camp if he can't reach a new deal with the Giants before then. "What's happening to Beckham is a total sham," one longtime vet said.

The Giants probably will take care of Beckham. So much of this might be moot.

But there are no guarantees.

As things stand now, the Giants hold all the leverage, and they have taken their sweet time in contract talks with Beckham. And by sweet time, I mean they haven't done jack.

They don't have to.

The collective bargaining agreement allows for a team to restructure a deal starting in a player's third year, which Beckham just finished. But teams don't have to, and if Beckham holds out for a substantial amount of time, he could potentially affect his free-agency status and be heavily fined.

But players think a Beckham holdout would eventually shift the pressure to the Giants because without him, their offense would grind to a halt. They're right, and that makes this one of the few times in which a young player potentially has some leverage in contract negotiations because his talent is so formidable.

Players think Beckham might even win a showdown with the Giants. That may be wishful thinking, but it would be a hell of a fight.

2. The Ups and Downs of Being OBJ

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Undeniably talented, Beckham also has shown moments of, well, silliness. He destroyed a poor kicking net, reportedly punched a wall and some writer even called him a cheap-shot guy.

Has he matured in the offseason? Who the hell knows. It's the offseason. But at least one of his offensive teammates thinks Beckham will be different this season: "I see a guy who gets it. I think he'll keep growing. I also think we're going to see Beckham this season become the best receiver in football, by far."

3. Top 5 Wide Receivers in the NFL

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One man's opinion:

• Brown: Best combination of speed and route running in the league.

• Beckham: No receiver scares defenses more.

• Jones: Could easily be No. 1.

• Jordy Nelson: One of the league's great big-play receivers.

• Green: Made the Pro Bowl in each of his first six seasons.

4. More Scary Concussion News, Part I

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When Michael Oher posted a picture on Instagram of all the pills he says he has been taking following a concussion he suffered last season, I can tell you there was a sense of shock among some players when they saw it. No player I spoke to had seen anything like it before. Players take medications for concussions, but none I spoke to said they've taken that much for a single concussion.

While no one said it specifically, the general feeling I got in talking to several players was that they believed Oher should retire.

5. More Scary Concussion News, Part II

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I love Tom Brady's father, Tom Brady Sr., mainly because he is incredibly honest about the NFL. He has no you-know-whats to give and always speaks truthfully. He did so again this month when asked about his daughter-in-law's claims that Brady had a concussion last year.

"We didn't get to any games last year, except the Super Bowl, so I wasn't aware of his health condition throughout the year," he said to the Boston Globe. "He wouldn't tell us."

Brady Sr. not only was pretty blunt about his son's secrecy but also about the risks his son, and every player, faces.

"I think every parent that sees their kid playing football knows that these guys are big and fast and things can happen that aren't always good," Brady Sr. told the Globe. "Hopefully, if something does happen, it will be dealt with as intelligently as possible.

"This is all kind of a new phenomenon. Some of the concussion catastrophes we've read about were sad, and frankly, the ballplayers were kept in the dark on the severity of the issue for a long time. The league didn't open up until they had to.

"That's kind of the way they deal with things. Players are much more apprised of the situation now than they were before, and I'm sure they take their injuries far more seriously than they were led to believe they had to in the past."

6. Ravens Again Make an Intriguing Offseason Move

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Welcome to Baltimore @jmac___19! pic.twitter.com/Kf48bMo34E

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) June 13, 2017"

Baltimore signed former Chiefs receiver Jeremy Maclin on Monday to a two-year, $11 million deal, as first reported by NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

That's cheap money for a guy who can still play, can still force a defense to account for him and will give quarterback Joe Flacco a credible target in the passing game.

By the time the summer is over, I think we'll look back and see this as one of the better signings of the offseason.

7. And Still Colin Kaepernick Waits

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In a league in which, at bare minimum, 20 percent of the quarterbacks are average or awful, a good quarterback remains unsigned. As I always warn, things can change rapidly, but as of now, it appears no team is making a run at Kaepernick.

The only chance the former 49ers quarterback has to catch on with a team is if a club suffers a slew of injuries at the position, and unfortunately, I'm not even sure that would get his phone to ring.

8. Hooray for the Good Guy

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We focus a lot on the jerks in football. We spend days talking about what goes wrong. Once in a while, however, someone does something right and deserves to be mentioned.

Larry Fitzgerald winning the Professional Football Writers of America Good Guy Award is one of those things. Fitzgerald has long been one of the best examples of a player who gets it. He's always understood that what happens on the field and off can sometimes affect a player's legacy in equal measure.

Some players spend years in the NFL and never get that.

9. Humor Sometimes Masks the Truth

Not sure why this post by Pro Football Talk about if a group of current free agents could beat the Browns or Jets made me laugh so hard, but it did. It's a fun exercise during the slow period of the offseason.

10. When Something Doesn't Work, It's Time to Shake Things Up

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Referee Jeff Triplette is a target of scorn among hardcore NFL followers. Most coaches and players I know in the NFL think of Triplette as among the worst officials in the sport, thought to regularly botch calls. And for those who remember, he also ruined offensive tackle Orlando Brown's career by accidentally throwing a flag into his eye.

Despite his many critics, he has rarely experienced any repercussions. Until now.

The site FootballZebras.com was the first to point out that Triplette's staff underwent a pretty serious shakeup this offseason. The NFL will say it's not so unusual. No matter the reasons, it is high time in the minds of many along the sidelines that Triplette feel the consequences for how poorly he handles games.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @mikefreemanNFL.