Odell Beckham Jr. says NFL players deserve more money
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. thinks NFL players should make more money, he told theHuffington Post.
Forbes reported in January that the average salary for NFL players during the 2013 season was $2 million, below that of players in the NHL ($2.58 million), MLB ($3.82 million) and NBA ($4.9 million).
Beckham was named the league's offensive rookie of the year after catching 91 passes for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
The 22-year-old made what many observers believe is one of the greatest in-game catches ever against the Dallas Cowboys in November.
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It was announced last week that Beckham will grace the cover of the video game Madden 2016.
Beckham argued that NFL players are under-compensated because of the violent nature of the sport. Contracts for NFL players typically are not fully guaranteed.
I understand that basketball plays 80-something games, baseball plays this many games, soccer 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.
It’s not even a full-contact sport, I would call it a full-collision sport. You have people running who can run 20 miles per hour and they’re running downhill to hit you, and you’re running 18 miles per hour. That’s a car wreck.
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.
Beckham signed a four-year, $10.4 million contract after being selected with the No. 12 pick in last year's draft.
