For the third time in four weeks, Odell Beckham Jr. was fined by the NFL. His latest fine, a $24,309 penalty, was incurred because he taunted Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes on Monday night, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN.
As noted by Raanan, this marks his sixth unsportsmanlike conduct penalty since 2014.
He has been less than helpful to his team this season. In addition to his three unsportsmanlike penalties this year (for a total of $72,463), Beckham Jr. was the subject of one of the most ridiculous sideline meltdowns we’ve seen in a while (watch here).
Beckham Jr. knows he needs to stop blowing up so much, but based on comments he made recently it seems clear he’s not quite ready to take full responsibility.
“I just have to understand if I sneeze the wrong way, it will be a flag,” he said. “It will be a fine. If I tie my shoes the wrong way, it might be a fine or a flag. It is what it is. You have to understand that. As tough as it is to understand that for a 23-year-old who has been blessed with a lot that God has given to me — an amazing amount of ability and amazing amount of everything — it seems like it’s all working against you.”
The dynamic receiver has only himself to blame. It’s not because he’s being singled out that he is being so closely scrutinized.
Dating back to last year when he got into it with Buffalo Bills defensive backs, he’s been a firecracker waiting to explode. This was fully evident when Josh Norman baited him into completely losing his marbles (watch here) and forcing the NFL to implement the two-strikes-and-you’re-out rule.
It was recently reported that Beckham Jr. is one bad penalty away from being suspended. We’re not exactly sure what it will take for the league to implement a suspension, but it’s clear the young man is getting close to warranting such a measure.
Hopefully he can get back to having fun again playing the game of football. If not, things are surely going to get worse before they get any better.