The Sports Xchange

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t do much in the way of team drills during the team’s opening OTA practice a week ago, not that many people took note, figuring that the coaching staff was giving opportunities to the other receivers on the roster.

However, when the second-year star and recently crowned Madden cover boy was again limited to a few punt returns in this, the team’s fourth OTA, that got people’s attention.

According to head coach Tom Coughlin, the reason for Beckham’s idleness, which has been ongoing since that first OTA, is due to hamstring soreness.

“Odell is sore,” Coughlin said, adding that the move to rest the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year was a precautionary move.

When he was asked if it was the hamstring again, Coughlin nodded. “Yeah, (but) not the same side.”

Beckham didn’t speak to reporters after the practice, but did reiterate his coach’s sentiments via quotes from a team spokesman about the move to sit being precautionary, noting that if there was a game this weekend, he would have been out there.

“It’s always frustrating when you have to miss what you love doing,” Beckham said. “Just not practicing today was enough for me, but it’s part of the game. The good thing is it’s just precautionary.”

Beckham was plagued by a hamstring issue most of last spring and into the summer that cost him four weeks of the 2014 regular season. Beckham, who despite the time missed went on to record 91 receptions for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns, would later claim during Pro-Bowl week that he had been dealing with multiple hamstring tears.

“They healed up enough to where I could play with them, but they were never truly good and I’m still just working on them and trying to get ready,” Beckham said, via the New York Post. “I should be good by training camp. The plan is to play at full strength next season, and I definitely hope to do it. I’m just looking forward to getting healthy.”

Giants general manager Jerry Reese, speaking at the Combine, disputed the 22-year-old Beckham’s account of his injury, saying, “”I don’t know about that. I think he was trying to be a hero. I don’t think you can run fast like that with two torn hamstrings.”

Regardless, the Giants are not about to run the risk of pushing their star receiver if he’s not 100 percent, not with Victor Cruz sidelined until at least the start of training camp as he recovers from a torn patellar tendon suffered in October.

Last week, Beckham, the winner of the Madden 2016 cover fan vote, scoffed at the idea that misfortune might befall him as it’s seemingly done for the majority of the players who have won the fan vote involving the popular video game.

“I don’t know what a jinx is,” he told reporters last week after the Giants’ first OTA had concluded. “It’s definitely a blessing to be on the cover. It was a surprise to be in the running after just a year, but it’s definitely exciting.”

The Giants, and no doubt Beckham, are hoping that this latest setback with his hamstring is not deja vu, and that he can be back on the field by the end of the week, if not sooner.

–Tight end Larry Donnell was spotted with his left foot in a walking boot, a precautionary step, according to Coughlin, who said the team’s starting tight end from last season had some tendinitis in his Achilles. … Defensive end Robert Ayers, who was carted off the field last week with a left leg injury, has a lateral ankle sprain that Coughlin said was pretty swollen. … Linebacker Jon Beason was not present at the team’s fourth OTA after having his flight from Charlotte cancelled the night before due to inclement weather in the New York metropolitan area.