New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr said he was fined $18,000 by the league office for wearing cleats that paid tribute to beloved NBA broadcaster Craig Sager, who died last week aged 65.
Beckham, who ran afoul of the NFL’s non-conforming uniform policy even though he wore them only during warm-ups and not Sunday’s 17-6 win over the Detroit Lions, went on to accuse the NFL of a double standard when Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was spared a fine after jumping into an oversize Salvation Army kettle to celebrate a touchdown.
“I got fined 18k for Craig Sager cleats that were auction off the cleats to the highest bidder and donating the proceeds to his cancer research,” Beckham wrote on Wednesday in an Instagram post. “18k like it’s nothing to them, no warning to take them off or anything noTHING!”
The remarks were in response to a post by Washington wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who was apparently also fined by the league for cleats that failed to conform to the league’s tightly enforced standards.
Beckham, who is in the third year of a four-year, $10.4m contract and will earn a base salary of $1.36m this season, was selected to his third Pro Bowl this week after overcoming a slow start to the 2016 campaign.
