Are Defenses Targeting Odell Beckham? Is It Working?

Odell Beckham Jr. believes he’s being targeted by defenders. He might be right, and it might be affecting his play.

The Bills accused Odell Beckham of throwing punches during the Giants’ Week 4 win in Buffalo. The evidence seems pretty clear. And it seems like the league agrees with the Bills accusations after they fined him $8,681 Wednesday.

To me, the story isn’t that he got fined. Players get in scuffles—just look at Richard Seymour, Charles Woodson, Andre Johnson… it’s certainly not ideal. But these things happen, especially in heated matches.

My concern isn’t that Odell Beckham is the “prima donna” the Bills are accusing him to be, nor a dirty player. But if he is in fact becoming a weekly target of opposing defenses, is it starting to affect his performance on the field?

Beckham’s having a good, not great, season. He would finish with around 96 catches and 1,200 yards should he keep up this pace. OK—that’s really good. But Beckham has great, nearly league-best, not just good, expectations. It is expecting a lot, but I do think of him more in the Antonio Brown range of securing 105 catches for around 1,400 yards.

It may not seem like a significant jump in production, but it actually is. Beckham currently doesn’t crack the top ten of any of the major receiving categories so far through the team’s first four games, and only has one 100-yard game. And if you take away his 67-yard touchdown, he’s averaging a tad over 10 yards per catch. While he should be producing like Brown or a Demaryius Thomas, he just isn’t right now.

Some may say the dip in production is a result of Victor Cruz being injured, but he played in all but two games without Cruz last season. You could argue the hamstring injury from the offseason is slowing him down, but he dealt with an even more severe hamstring injury last season, and seemed to come back from that smoothly. It could be just a slower than anticipated start to the season too…

Dec 21, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham warms up before the game between the St. Louis Rams and the New York Giants at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

He still looks quick and sharp, but for a guy with such incredible route-running ability and secure hands, I do expect him to be averaging in the range of 90-100 yards per game, not 77, especially when Eli Manning isn’t turning the ball over. I’m at the very least curious: is Odell Beckham Jr. being less aggressive because he fears teams will start to lay bigger hits on him if he goes deep or over the middle?

I took a look at some splits stats, and there is a possibility Beckham is taking less chances than last season because he fears those big hits from defensive backs. Last season, most of his production came down the left and right sidelines, where he’s vulnerable to late hits from safeties and linebackers. 51 of his 91 catches in 2014 came from the sidelines—56% of his production. This season: he’s caught 11 of 24 balls down the sidelines, dipping to 46%.

Not a huge drop, but notable. And inside the opponents 20-yard line, where defenders can hit receivers especially hard should they cut over the middle or if a quarterback leaves a ball up high, Beckham’s production is way down. He had 16 catches for 122 yards and 8 touchdowns in 12 games last season inside the red zone. This season: 1 catch for 6 yards—no scores.

I think it’s still too early to tell if Beckham is really being targeted by defenders, or if it’s affecting his play, but it’s something to keep an eye on as the season moves on, especially if his production doesn’t pick up more.

This is a story that’s steadily materialized over the past ten months. It started with last December’s unusually violent late hit a Rams’ defender put on Beckham that sparked a brawl. Then in April, Beckham said one of his goals heading into his sophomore campaign would be to control his emotions. I’m not entirely sure why he set this goal. He does celebrate after big plays and scores, sure, but he was not a heavily-penalized player his rookie year, nor was he fined.

He seems to have been made aware that his emotions were working against him at points. How? I’m not sure. Maybe he thinks it’s drawing the ire of defenders, which it seemed to do on Sunday, or maybe he thinks he’s losing focus while on the field? Whatever the reason, Beckham seems to be aware that he wears his emotions on his sleeve.

This story took an interesting turn in late August when he accused the Jaguars of targeting him and trying to lay bigger, if unnecessary, hits against him. It’s a bit of an unwritten rule in the preseason not to do that, but that sort of thing did seem to be happening in their matchup with Jacksonville.

Should he control his emotions better going forward, it could help Beckham in a couple of ways. One, defenders may not target him (if they’re even doing it now), and his production might take an upward swing. And, he’d avoid getting fined, and I’m sure he’d like that too.