Odell Beckham Jr. Doesn't Think the NFL Should Return: 'We're Not Ready for Football Season'
Jason Miller/Getty Odell Beckham Jr.
Odell Beckham Jr. is feeling uncomfortable with a return to the NFL amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
In a new interview with WSJ. Magazine, Beckham Jr. said that "Obviously with everything that’s going on, it doesn’t make sense why we’re trying to do this."
On Friday, the NFL and the NFL Player's Association came to an agreement regarding coronavirus safety precautions for when the 2020-2021 season restarts in September. Many players have already recently returned for training camps.
"I can understand basketball was already in the playoffs," Beckham Jr., 27, said in the interview ahead of Friday's agreement. "Five-on-five basketball in an arena is going to be more intense than regular-season games. Hooping is different than playing an eleven-on-eleven contact sport where there’s 80 people in a locker room."
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The Cleveland Browns wide receiver continued, "We’re not ready for football season. So why are we trying to push forward? It’s obviously for their money. And that bothers me because there’s always been this — and I hate saying it like that — but the owners’ [attitude is], 'Oh we own you guys,' and just kind of that unfairness going on that they don’t see us as human."
"I just feel like the season shouldn’t happen and I’m prepared for it to not happen and I wouldn’t mind not having it," Brown said in the WSJ. Magazine interview.
In response to Brown's quotes, a representative for the NFL told the magazine that "players’ health and safety is their number-one priority and that the league has worked to develop a set of protocols to minimize risk for fans, players and personnel that has been reviewed and endorsed by public health officials, including the CDC."
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The rep also told WSJ. Magazine in a quote, "NFL teams embrace all personnel as family and many players for life-long relationships with team management and executives."
Beckham Jr. also told WSJ. Magazine that there have been some changes in his life due to the pandemic.
"I miss being able to see other parts of the world," explained the athlete. "[When] I got into the league, I had never really been anywhere and I ended up being fortunate enough to have a little money and be able to take my family and myself places."
But now, as football comes to a restart, he is also focused on his advocacy and support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Said Beckham Jr., "I definitely want to figure out how else I can help, how I can be part of the solution."
