We know Odell Beckham Jr.'s season is over after ankle surgery. The long-term future of the Giants receiver in New York, however, remains up in the air.
Beckham heads into 2018 under team control after the Giants exercised the fifth-year option on his contract, which is set to pay him around $8 million for the season. The question is whether sides could come to a long-term deal before OBJ is back on the field.
Speaking at the NFL's Fall League Meeting on Wednesday, Giants co-owner John Mara said the injury should not prevent a new deal.
"I don't think it will have any effect because I think he's going to make a full recovery," Mara said.
The owner added the team doesn't need to see Beckham fully healthy before giving him a long-term contract.
"I don't necessarily think so because I think our medical people feel pretty strongly that he'll make a full recovery. Knowing him, he will work so hard to get back, he has so much pride," he said.
The question then becomes what sort of deal the Giants would be willing to give Beckham coming off an injury. Would Mara make him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL? The highest-paid non-QB? The highest-paid player overall, as Beckham has suggested?
Mara also addressed Beckham's pre-injury, post-touchdown, canine-inspired celebration that caused a fuss earlier in New York, and led some to suggest antics like that are why the Giants shouldn't pay the talented receiver huge dinero.
"I was obviously disappointed with his behavior in Philadelphia," Mara said. "I spoke to him about that, and he heard me, and unfortunately he got hurt. But he's maturing. I think we had all hoped that maturity would have come a little faster than it has been but I've spoken to him. I saw him in the hospital last week. He's in a good place I think, and I think he'll come back stronger than ever."
While Mara suggested a deal could get done before Beckham returns to the field unless the receiver is willing to take a team-friendly deal, don't bet on it happening before next season. With the fifth-year option in place at a discount rate and the franchise tag to wield in subsequent seasons, the team has time on its side.
