While Odell Beckham Jr. may not have been entirely happy with an aging Eli Manning throwing him the football over his last couple of years with the New York Giants, Beckham has never seemed to have any problem with Manning as a person.
With Manning set to end his Giants (and possibly NFL) career this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dan Duggan of The Athletic spoke to some of Manning's former teammates to reflect on Manning as a player and as an individual.
Odell Beckham was one of those teammates, and he has fond memories of his time with Manning…especially when it comes to Eli's pranks.
Apparently, Manning would be talking to rookies at practice when he would pretend to have a toothache and blame it on having his wisdom teeth pulled recently.
Manning would then do this, as Odell Beckham recalled:
“So he’d ask a guy if he had his wisdom teeth still,” said Beckham. “And of course the rookies would, like, open wide and try to show him. And he’d take his other hand and shove the pellets from the artificial turf in their mouths. Like, sometimes he’d shove it all the way down to the back of their mouths. Guys would gag.”
Odell Beckham added that he had “so many good memories” with Manning, but that the toothache prank was the one that really stood out.
Manning has spent all 16 of his NFL seasons with the Giants, delivering a pair of Super Bowl titles. Neither of those came with Beckham, so one can only imagine how electric Manning and Odell Beckham would have been together had Beckham come around just a few years earlier.
Nevertheless, Eli Manning will ride into the sunset with more than championship achievements. He will have the memories of fun times spent with his football brothers, Odell Beckham being one of them.
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