Looking back on the 2014 season, New York Giants rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was one of the best NFL players. He caught 91 balls for 1,305 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, and he did that in 12 games due to a hamstring injury that forced him to sit four games.
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Even though he has only spent a year in the league, Beckham is already suggesting the league should make some major changes. The Giants receiver believes NFL players should make more money.
"I think that we should make more money, personally," Beckham said to the Huffington Post.
Beckham said NFL players should get more money because of how violent the game is and how these guys risk their bodies each day.
"It's not even a full-contact sport, I would call it a full-collision sport," Beckham said. "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."
According to salary records in 2014, the average NBA salary was $4.9 million, MLB — $3.82 million, NHL — $2.58 million, NFL — $2 million. Even though the NFL is by far the most popular sport in the nation, NFL players get paid the least. I think it's because of the size of the rosters. There are 53 players on an NFL roster. No other sport has that many players that you need to pay.
But even though there are lots of players that need to get paid, Beckham is just hoping for more financial security.
"It's just the careers are shorter," Beckham said. "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."
It will be interesting if other notable players speak out and back the comments of Beckham. I'm sure every player in the league wants more money, but it's just a matter of speaking up and demanding a change.
