Browns' Odell Beckham Jr.: NFL shouldn't hold season amid coronavirus pandemic
As of a couple weeks ago, Odell Beckham Jr. did not believe the NFL was in position to conduct its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a Wall Street Journal interview that took place prior to the agreement between the league and Players’ Association on July 24, the Cleveland Browns wide receiver explained “that’s how I feel,” while noting the difference between other pro sports leagues' comebacks and the NFL trying to start its season.
“Obviously with everything that’s going on, it doesn’t make sense why we’re trying to do this. I can understand basketball was already in the playoffs," he told the Journal. "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. We’re not ready for football season. So why are we trying to push forward?”
Beckham Jr. reported to training camp on July 28. He has no plans of opting out, per the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Beckham Jr. pointed to the massive financial implications of a lost season as the driving force of the decision to move ahead. He also took a shot at the league’s owners.
“It’s obviously for their money," he told the Journal. "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.”