March 10 (UPI) — The New York Giants said they are aware of a video, which features a man who appears to be Odell Beckham Jr. holding a brown cigarette and sitting near an unidentified white substance.
The video, which went viral on social media Friday, also features the man in bed with a woman and a pizza. The woman holds a credit card over the white substance. The video is undated and shot at an unknown location.
The Giants said they are aware of the video, according to reports. The NFL is also aware, the league told NJ.com.
Beckham tweeted Friday, saying “Old news still makes a good story…I guess. #CatchUpWereIn18.”
The No. 12 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft had at least 1,300 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in each of his first three seasons. Beckham had 302 yards and three scores in four games last season before going down to a broken fibula and having surgery in October.
The 25-year-old is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He is due $8.5 million in 2018, but has said he would like to become the highest-paid player in the NFL.
“I believe that I will be hopefully not just the highest-paid receiver in the league, but the highest paid, period,” the three-time Pro Bowler told Uninterrupted in July.
Sources close to Beckham told the NFL Network that he is targeting more than $20 million, annually, with a new contract.
Beckham has said that he doesn’t plan to play this preseason for the Giants.
The Giants’ new head coach, Pat Shurmur, said in January that he is starting with a clean slate when it comes to his relationship with Beckham.
“This is sort of a clean-slate deal right now,” Shurmur told reporters.
“As I mentioned, we need to sit down and talk. When things happen, there’s typically reasons for it. I learned that by coaching the quarterback. I’ve said this, I’m at peace with a wide range of emotions, and so when you coach other positions, you can kind of fly off the handle and that sort of works. With a quarterback you’ve got to constantly keep saying to him, and this helped me when I started coaching quarterbacks, what did you see, why did you do that; all right, let’s talk about it. And I think with all things Odell, we just need to start talking and find out why things happened, and if they’re not what is by our standards, then we’ve got to find a way to get him fixed.”
Pittsburgh Steelers star Antonio Brown makes about $17 million annually. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans, 24, signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract on Friday.