Fansided

Odell Beckham Jr. says NFL players are underpaid

By FanSided Staff

Oct 19, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) celebrates his second quarter touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) celebrates his second quarter touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Odell Beckham Jr. explains in an interview that he thinks NFL players don’t make enough money.

Professional athletes make a ton of money, Odell Beckham Jr. included. The multi-million dollar contracts and endorsement deals make the average American worker’s salary look like chump change. But apparently, for one second-year wide receiver, it’s not nearly enough for what they do.

Odell Beckham Jr. said in an interview with the Huffington post that NFL players should make more money.

"“I think we should make more money, personally,” started Beckham Jr. on the pay raise he thinks the players deserve. ” I understand that basketball plays 80-something games, baseball plays that many games, but this is a sport that’s most-watched in America. A sport where there’s more injuries. There’s more collisions.”"

When you put it like that, it does seem to make sense that NFL players should make more than other professional athletes. After all, if they are generating more revenue because of the popularity involved with the sport, shouldn’t it make sense that NFL guys should get more than soccer, NBA, and MLB players?

That wasn’t his only point either. The inherent violence that goes with playing football and the risks associated with playing the sport should make it more lucrative in the eyes of Beckham Jr. He thinks that because of all the injuries, violence, and head trauma players suffer, combined with the length players actually play in the league, it should pay better than other professional sports.

"“It’s not even a full-contract sport, I would call it a full-collision sport,” he would go on to say. “It’s just the careers are shorter, There’s injuries that you have after you leave the game, brain injuries, whatever it is, nerve injuries. And it’s just something that I feel as if there’s no way someone who — even if they did their three or four years in the league — should have to worry about money for the rest of their lives.”"

He does make a solid point. Football players destroy their body for the sport. And while most sports fans out there think they are doing it for the love of the game and fans, they are probably wrong. Football is one of the most violent sports out there. Resulting in horrible long term bodily harm to it’s former players.

I don’t know if I agree with Beckham Jr., but perhaps the NFL should spend more time developing programs that help former athletes financially and physically after they retire. Beckham Jr. is only a second-year player ans is smart enough to realize that he is getting taken advantage of. There is no reason to think the NFL won’t make changes in the future. But having young players speak out on the exploitation the NFL gets away with is a start to solving the problem.

[H/T: Dead Spin]

More from New York Giants

Home/New York Giants