As we all know now there was much more going behind the scenes between some Carolina Panthers players and Odell Beckham Jr. prior to Sunday’s matchup that boiled over into the game.
Larry Brown Sports reported that before the game even started a member of the Panthers practice squad was walking around with a baseball bat allegedly threatening the New York Giants receiver with it and calling him homophobic slurs.
When the game got underway, Beckham and Panthers cornerbacks Josh Norman and Cortland Finnegan went at it a few times. The time that stuck out in everyone’s mind was when Beckham retaliated with a helmet-to-helmet hit on Norman, which got him suspended for one game.
While that dangerous hit was inexcusable it’s mind-boggling, especially knowing what we now, that no one on the Panthers was suspended. Shouting homophobic slurs at someone while threatening them with a baseball bat is also inexcusable and what was practice squad player Marcus Bell doing at the away game anyway?
NJ.com noted that Panthers coach Ron Rivera explained that Bell traveled with the team as a “reward” for his hard work and that the team uses the bat as a motivational tool. On Tuesday though, he banned bats at games and denied that his players directed any gay slurs at Beckham. The Giants, however, say they have video evidence of this. Here's video of something being said to Beckham, although it's unclear what exactly.
This is something the NFL definitely needs to investigate, but we’ll just have to wait and see if the league actually steps up and does.