Giants' Pugh 'good' with Beckham skipping OTAs

Odell Beckham Jr.'s decision to stay away from New York Giants OTAs this offseason drew a lot of attention in the media, but it hasn't necessarily caused a stir in the locker room.

Beckham's offensive teammate Justin Pugh appeared on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football" on Monday and downplayed Beckham's absence.

"Odell, I've been with him for three, four years now. I know how he is," Pugh said. "It's gotta be tough being him, though. I always try to look at things from his perspective and see what he goes through. I see that, and I'm like, 'Come in, get ready to work,' he's in great shape. I wonder if we could get a list of all the guys that didn't go to OTAs. I guarantee, put them all together and they didn't get as much publicity as Odell.

"He's the biggest name in our game. You go anywhere in the world and people are going to recognize Odell Beckham. So obviously him not being there is a big deal. But he showed up in great shape, ready to roll. I'm good with it. ... There's things going on during OTAs. He has a lot of stuff going on in his life, probably more than an offensive lineman has going on. Hey, he's ready to go."

OTAs are by definition voluntary, so Beckham was entirely within his rights to stay away. And by all accounts he showed up for mandatory practice in great shape after working out on his own all offseason.

Though the narrative that Beckham's absence was in protest of his contract was an appealing one for media outlets looking for clicks in an otherwise slow offseason, Beckham has been adamant that it's not why he stayed away.