The ongoing cat-and-mouse game between the NFL and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr reached new heights on Monday night — in terms of money and playing time.
A week after playing a game while wearing a wristwatch reportedly valued at US$350,000, Beckham wore no such watch during Monday’s game against the Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey — instead, Beckham stepped onto the MetLife Stadium turf for warmups wearing something that put his Week 1 watch to shame.
ESPN cameras caught him sporting a metallic and clear watch, which looked just like the Richard Mille RM 56-02 Tourbillon Sapphire. There are only 10 in existence and they are valued at more than US$2 million each.
Photo: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY
Unrelated to jewelry, the NFL on Monday still found fault with Beckham, sending him to the sideline after an amazing first-quarter catch set up a first-and-goal.
Officials reportedly told Browns coach Freddie Kitchens that Beckham’s gold-tinted visor broke the league’s rule that players can only wear clear visors. Kitchens was told to remove Beckham from the game so that the visor could be changed out.
However, by the time the new visor was in place, however, Beckham had missed a third-and-goal play, and the Browns settled for a field goal.
Beckham ultimately got the last laugh. His clear visor allowed him to see a pass from Baker Mayfield and take it 89 yards for the final touchdown in the Browns’ 23-3 win.
It was the longest reception in Beckham’s six-year career.
“All I want is it to be fair around the league. If you’re going to tell me to do something, do it for everybody else,” Beckham said during a post-game interview on ESPN. “You let people stay in the game on ‘Monday Night Football’ with gold visors, everybody else has tinted visors, and you pull me off and it hurts my team — and I hurt my team on third-and-goal. You can warn me, do something, but don’t pull me off on third-and-goal. All I want is it to be fair. I just want to play football.”
During the Browns’ season-opening loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 8, Beckham wore a Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Flyback Chronograph watch.
A day later, the NFL reportedly called the Browns and informed them that Beckham could no longer wear the watch during games as it broke the league’s rule “prohibiting hard objects.”
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