#Odell Beckham: The NFL season should not happen

Beckham told Wall Street Journal Magazine that “it doesn’t make sense” for the NFL to charge forward with the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic and plans to do so are because greedy team owners see the players as sub-human.

“Obviously with everything that’s going on, it doesn’t make sense why we’re trying to do this,” Beckham said during an interview conducted July 21 but published Monday. “I can understand basketball was already in the playoffs. Five-on-five basketball in an arena is going to be more intense than regular-season games. Hooping is different than playing an 11-on-11 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? 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.”

Since the interview, the NFL and its players union agreed to safety protocols, including a voluntary opt-out provision available to all players. Beckham reported to Cleveland Browns training camp July 28 and has no plan to opt out, according to multiple reports.

Beckham said earlier this season that he nearly retired from the Giants in 2018, after a season-ending injury and when he stopped having fun in New York. Then he signed a record-setting five-year, $90 million contract, played one more season for the Giants and was traded to the Browns, where he has gone on a Giants-bashing spree.

Beckham first shared his reservations last month during a roundtable discussion with other NFL stars. He has been watching “Game of Thrones,” playing the “Call of Duty: War Zone” video game, growing his activism voice and training in Los Angeles this offseason.

Beckham designed and released a T-shirt in June with the words “I Still Can’t Breathe.” He donated 100 percent of the proceeds ($250,000) from the sold-out merchandise to the Black Lives Matter Foundation.

“I definitely want to figure out how else I can help, how I can be part of the solution,” Beckham said. “The first drop was cool and we did some great numbers.

“I got a tattoo that I haven’t shown anyone yet, a BLM tattoo. It’s a list of all—well, not all, because there’s plenty more—it was a design of a street where they wrote in chalk, all of the names [of victims of police violence], and it was my [phone] background for a while. I just really liked it.”