Odell Beckham Jr. Says He Wants To Be Highest-Paid Player In NFL

Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. mentioned in an interview with UNINTERRUPTED that he’s looking to become the highest-paid player in the entire NFL, not just the highest-paid receiver.

“It’s like the elephant in the room, and you don’t want to talk about it,” Beckham said, via James Kratch of NFL.com. “But I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I’m like, ‘No, I’m going to … there’s no need to not talk about it.

“I believe that I will be hopefully not just the highest-paid receiver in the league, but the highest-paid, period.”

Earlier in the day, Giants owner John Mara told Steve Serby of the New York Post that contract talks between the team and Beckham haven’t started yet, but they plan to do so “at the appropriate time.”

“They haven’t begun as of yet, but … they’ll happen at the appropriate time,” Mara said. “I don’t think we have a time frame on it. But we certainly don’t want to see him playing in another uniform.”

“Listen, he’s as exciting a player as we have had on this team in my lifetime, and he brings a lot of energy, a lot of big plays to us,” Mara said. “And when you cut through everything else, he actually is a really good kid. He does a lot of wonderful things off the field that people don’t know about. He needs to work on controlling his emotions a little bit more. But when he is on the field, the other teams have to pay attention to him … and he strikes fear into the eyes of the other team. As long as you have that ability, he makes your team better. He just adds a lot to us. We really haven’t had a player like that here for a long time.”

Beckham is clearly in line for a massive contract extension at some point in the next year or so, as he’s already one of, in not, the best receivers in the NFL. However, it sounds like this is going to be an extremely difficult negotiation for New York.

The Giants have him under contract through the 2018 season and could always franchise in 2019 if needed.

In order to take over the top spot for the highest-paid player in the NFL, he’ll need to top the five-year, $125 million contract signed by Raiders QB Derek Carr this offseason.

Beckham, 24, was taken with the No. 12 overall pick by the Giants back in 2014. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $10,406,198 contract and stands to make a base salary of $1,839,02 for the 2017 season.

The fifth-year option will run the Giants $8,459,000, but is guaranteed only for injury and won’t prevent them from working on a long-term extension over the next year.

In 2016, Beckham appeared in all 16 games for the Giants and caught 101 passes for 1,367 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 12 receiver out of 115 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding a new deal for Beckham as the news is available.