National Football League

Odell Beckham Jr.: 'No problem' with teammates over jokes

Published Jun. 25, 2015 10:27 a.m. ET

foxsports

By Jason Rowan

Some things Odell Beckham Jr. had to say last week about how it upset him that teammates were giving him grief and joking about his recurring hamstring injury became the source of a mini-controversy for the New York Giants wide receiver. But to hear it from him, he has no issue whatsoever with anybody on the team, despite the admission his feelings were hurt over the razzing.

“I have no problem with anybody on the team or inside or anything,” Beckham said Wednesday, per a report from the New York Post.

Beckham made it clear he wasn’t upset with his teammates, just the jokes themselves. He also partly cited the media’s role in obfuscating exactly what he said, saying words alone are never the entire story.

“It was more of, you know, I feel like you can’t take someone’s words and you can’t really tell the tone they’re saying. I’m like ‘Yeah, it gets a bit frustrating when teammates joke with you’ and it gets written that he’s frustrated with teammates and it’s like it’s not how it sounds. It’s weird sometimes.”

Last week, Beckham sounded off on how teammates were giving him grief over how a hamstring injury has prevented him from participating in offseason activities. The wideout missed all of training camp last year and missed the first four games of his rookie season with the same injury.

“For me, this is what I love doing, and this is what I feel like my purpose was to do,” he said last week. “So it takes a lot of strength for me to be able to come here every day and not practice, have to hear the little remarks, the little jokes, this and that.”

Despite his insistence that things are hunky dory between him and his teammates, Beckham appeared quite upset over the ribbing, skipping a media interview last Thursday, presumably over hurt feelings instead of a hurt hamstring.

Beckham’s gripes became such a talking point that both Eli Manning and head coach Tom Coughlin felt compelled to comment on his presumed unhappiness, with the quarterback essentially telling his teammate to lighten up.

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