Men’s Journal’s Everyday Warrior With Mike Sarraille is a podcast that inspires individuals to live more fulfilling lives by having conversations with disrupters and high performers from all walks of life. In episode 38, we spoke to wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. who’s currently a free agent.

Listen to the full episode above (scroll down for the transcript) and see more from this series below.

This interview has not been edited for length or clarity.

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Mike Sarraille:
Welcome to the Men’s Journal Everyday Warrior podcast. I’m your host, Mike Sarraille. I’m joined today by Odell Beckham Jr. For those that have been living under rock Odell Beckham Jr. Is going down as one of the best wide receivers in history former LSU football star first round draft pick, Super Bowl champion, pro bowler credited with probably the catch of the century, and just an overall badass. Odell, thank you for coming on, man.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
Yes sir. Appreciate that intro to I don’t mind that

Mike Sarraille:
It’s well deserved. This is a great segue, man. Given the amount of success you’ve received, people know that one, you almost come from LSU royalty in a sense. Your dad was a well known football player, your mom was a track icon. I’m assuming most people look at you and they’re like, Yeah, he just had natural talent. It was easy for ’em but yet I remember when you were drafted that day, that night, you literally had tears coming down your face, man which I love seeing grown men cry because there’s nothing more manly when people dismiss everything that you’ve achieved, the level of excellence you’ve achieved because where you come from. What do you say to that man? Don’t they see behind the scenes?

Odell Beckham Jr. :
Yeah, so I mean for me, I absolutely love it. I absolutely love the dismissive kind of talk as if, which my mom was a world class athlete and my dad was a world class athlete himself growing up, but I know some of the best kids from where I grew up at who didn’t make it and everybody talks about us about natural ability and all these things. At the end of the day, you still have to work. I could have all the talent in the world, I could be a knucklehead, I could have all the talent in the world. I could just not take advantage of those opportunities. So for me, when I grew up in my very early childhood, I didn’t have it the way that I have it where everyone sees that I went to Newman and they see that I went to the school where Eli and Peyton went and it’s like this silver spoon kind of mentality and all that.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
And it’s like, yeah, that could be great. You could sit there and you went to this great school and all that. But at the end of the day, nobody cares about that unless you can achieve what you can achieve with your actual ability. So for me, I grew up split homes moms dad, and my mom was single parent and she worked for every single thing to be able to provide for me a pair of cleats or that video game that I wanted. But in getting that pair of cleats or video game that I wanted, it was all about the lessons and being able to accomplish things to where that was my reward. So for me, I didn’t have it growing up easy from one to six to 7, 8, 9 years old, it wasn’t the easiest. And then moving to New Orleans, it wasn’t the easy place to grow up in granted that I did go to a good school.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
So for me, it’s just kind of funny to me because I also feel like I, I’m old enough and mature enough now to know that that’s how the world works. I always talk about this, there’s a reason why we call a ufo a ufo. We have to be able to put our finger on something and identify for us to feel comfortable with it because I feel like we don’t, we’re not cool or with the unknown. And for me, I feel like that’s just what I’ve always been. People, I’ve kind of been an unknown thing. So people have to put a name or a label or he’s this or that, or all the names that came with what I’ve done in the league, a diva, all the negative things that have gone on, it’s because I feel like people were just uncomfortable with who I truly was.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
And for me that was something that later on became a strength for me. But I worked for every single thing that I have now. And I think that’s why, you know, like you mentioned when I got drafted, you could see real emotion because again, like I say, I remember sacrificing weekends. I remember sacrificing time with your family, sacrificing those days to go hang out with your friends just to go do some extra to be great. So for me, again, like I say I was blessed with two parents who were phenomenal athletes and also knew what it was gonna take for me to get there. So they pushed me and try to put me in the best situation. They succeed. But at the end of the day it is, they can teach you all these things in the world, but you have to get between those lines and still do it and prove it. And I feel like I’ve done a very good job at that. And it’s just funny that people try and discredit you and all the things that you’ve accomplished, but I earned every single thing that I have now and I worked very hard for it.

Mike Sarraille:
People dismiss other people cuz it makes it easier for them to accept that they weren’t willing to put the work in to achieve what they wanted. And so you earned every bit of what you’ve you’ve strived for with that. And the work ethic we know that you have are no stranger to injuries in the sport of football. That’s just an inevitability. But it seems like every time you’re injured, you come back stronger when you face an injury, what are the initial thoughts going through your head and is there a point where you just wanna switch and you’re like, Okay, now I gotta put the work into one rehab to get better and come back stronger? What’s your mentality when you face adversity like that?

Odell Beckham Jr. :
I feel like this is something that I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time because my very first injury I could mean go through injury history with you. But starting with that first major ankle injury in New York Giants, it’s like, what people don’t understand is I had a grade two and a half high ankle sprain, which my doctor told me do not come back for eight weeks. And I remember, I knew I was gonna miss the first game. I’m looking at the second game, we lose the first game to Dallas and me being the guy that everyone thinks I am this selfish guy, he only cares about himself. All the bullshit that’s ever gotten said, it makes no sense to me why someone who only cares about himself would come back four to five weeks too early to go out there to play with his brothers.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
So that way we do have a chance to get to the playoffs instead of the selfish thing, which I should have done was take that time really heal regardless if we win lose or draw, look after yourself. And I probably wouldn’t have had the downfall, the slopes of injuries because the ankle injury I had fibula, spiral fracture, having to get a plate, nine screws, full sin, osmosis, tear tight ropes. It’s really a career ending injury. And it just was something I come back the 2018 season <affirmative> and I tear my quad with four games left and I had already had a thousand plus yards, six touchdowns, 77 receptions. At that point, I still had four games left. This is after the first major surgery. And I remember the first time when I had that surgery, how hard I worked come to come back and I was like, however hard I work now after I make it through this season, this is how I’m gonna continue to work every off season.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
Tore my quad 2018 year off, I got, you know, get a contusion or whatever. And then a hema hematoma formed in my quad and then it burst in one of the games and I was thinking like, all right, you strain quad muscle, you’ll be back soon. And it just was something that took from end of October or end of November all the way until March for me to be able to even train again, then train, I get traded to Cleveland and right before the season starts I get a little strain in like you’re growing your lower ab muscle. And I was asking them, I remember specifically being like, Is this how hernia surgery and da? And they sat there and told me, no, this isn’t it. And I said, I wasn’t gonna take any more cortisone shots. And of course you know, wanna play that badge, you’re like, all right, just gonna do it.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
Ended up having a full evasion fracture of my groin on the left side, which means the muscle comes off the bone. And I was playing the entire season of 2019 with that. Literally can’t lift my leg on the table from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday. Just finding a way to scratch and claw through it. I remember I had the hernia surgery, I wouldn’t suggest getting it ever in my life. It was probably the worst pain that you could possibly be in had that surgery. I come back 2020 season and it just was a very unfortunate event of my cleat catching the turf the wrong way, me being in a rage mode on a interception, which truly, if someone was selfish and didn’t care for anybody else, I probably wouldn’t have chased buddy down because it won’t lie to you. It wasn’t my fault <laugh>. And I’m still trying to go make a play and I’m running in full rage.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
And then I kind of catch myself as a piles coming to me and I tried to hit the brakes and my cleats slid farther than what I needed to. And then when it caught your knee shifted, I tore my acl. And this was the craziest part about when I tore my acl, I remember being at six, five months and people were like, There’s no way that you’re doing what you’ve done already. And again, like you were saying, I come back stronger, I come back stronger. It’s just a mentality that you have to have. And I don’t think someone who doesn’t have the heart I always talk about this, I talk about everything that I’ve been through in my career, whether it’s injury, whether it’s situations that I’ve been in, you name me, any of the top guys, any top receiver, any of these guys who they think don’t have ego or don’t want the ball in their hands and all this, put them through everything that I’ve been through and I would love to see which one of them is still standing.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
You know what I mean? That’s the reality of it is I’ve been through some shit for real and other people have had it way easier than I’ve had it. So when I tore my ACL this time, trained harder than I’ve ever trained. I was beyond ready, I was bigger than I had ever been. I was ready to come back, have a great year, and whatever happens in Cleveland and it happens and sometimes the story doesn’t go the way that we want and you to, we split our ways and I had the opportunity to pick wherever I wanted to go and the Rams thing kind of happened and I believe that this was already a great team. Always. Rams was the only franchise that I had ever truly loved crazy enough. I remember Tom Brady beating him in the Super Bowl. I remember it is just been that one organization for me.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
And when I signed with the Rams, we did a MRI and the doc who I’m very close friends with now, Dr. <inaudible> is he had to drive up. So I landed at nine, did a mri, I’m in the building by 10, I don’t sign until five 6:00 PM because they had to inform me pretty much that my ACL didn’t, there was no acl. This was after the ACL surgery. He said, You don’t have a clear ACL in here. And I remember him sitting there with me right then and there week nine or whatever it was, This is right after my birthday, not expecting to hear this news. He’s like, You don’t have baby abc. He’s like, We can redo your surgery now. And basically I told him like, Bro, I’ve been through so much shit already. There’s no way that I’m gonna sit here and get this surgery again.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
I told him, literally looked him in his eyes. I said, I’ll die on the sword. And each week he would come up to me, he’s like, I don’t know how you’re doing it, I just don’t understand how you’re doing it. How do you feel? And this is a story that people don’t know. And I remember putting a little tweet about it out and they were like, It’s bullshit. If you don’t have acl, you can’t do it. Or if you had a torn acl. I was like, I didn’t say I had a torn acl. I said I didn’t have an acl. And it just was kind of something that became a little insider between Coach McVey. The guys on the team knew and Doc knew and it just was something that they were like, I don’t know how you’re doing it. And then come Super Bowl time, I remember Cooper cover and I looked at each other after the NFC Championship wishing that it was wishing that would’ve been the Super Bowl because we looked at each other and we was like, Bro, I don’t know if I could do this for another week.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
Just was the season had already, this is the longest season I had ever had. I just came back off of a surgery and then it get to the Thes Bowl. And I already told McVay, I said, When we win Thes Bowl, you gotta let me design the ring. He said, If we win Thes Bowl, you got it. I said, Right done deal. Going through the game plan, this is the hardest part for me to swallow, which is like I’ve never had this moment back, is if people were to sit there and be like, Oh he’s only known for one lucky catch and da da da. Even though you could go look at numbers and stats and all that and it wouldn’t say the same for someone who’s missed five seasons but still is in top of the class for whatever and whatever. But the Super Bowl was gonna be the game where I got to go to work.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
We had a game plan where they were gonna put CO on the other side if they were gonna double ’em, then I was gonna eat all day. I was literally gonna go for 220 yards, three touchdowns. I really, it’s not even a coulda would’ve shoulda or if this was the reality of the situation that was gonna happen. And I think that’s the hardest part for me is I finally get to the epitome of success for your sport. And it’s just out of everything anyone’s ever said about me, I had never been so prepared in my life for a moment. I remember crying before the game, but it was crying as a God thank you for finally giving me this opportunity for, I used to only be able to combat what people could say about me on the field. And then when you’re hurt, you can’t really, Nah, I could probably only exchange my words.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
So it just was very tough for me because I knew what I was going to do that day and I have that moment taken away. It just was something that was not easy at all and I still wish I could go back and just get two more quarters of that game. I promise you the game would not have been close. No disrespect to Cincinnati or anybody. It just was the game playing that we had. McVay really when I got to the game I was like, it’s over with. And especially as a receiver, you get your confidence early by getting to catch. And my first catch comes, I don’t know if it was late in the fourth or early in the second quarter, I finally get the ball and it’s a touchdown. I was like, it’s over with. There’s no, there’s nobody who could say or do anything to me. There’s no words that could be exchanged. I wasn’t even talking to nobody on the other side. That’s how ready I was for this game. So it just sucks cuz you know, can’t have that moment back. But God and I already have a little promise to each other. He said, I’ll you, I’ll make sure that the champagne isn’t so bittersweet this time, next time you get your opportunity. So he already told me that I’ll have another opportunity and this time I’ll be able to really do what I’m capable of doing and wanted to do.

Mike Sarraille:
It’s dude, it is amazing to me as you talk, I just wrote a book called The Everyday Warrior. It comes out in January when I actually, I’ll be in Antarctica at the time. But the book is about warriors and I’m not talking about warriors in the military, I’m talking about warriors in life And Warriors hold themselves to high standards. I mean dude, you scored the first touchdown of the game for your team and you still, that wasn’t good enough for you that those are high standards man. And that’s impressive dude, I can tell you this. We’re excited to see you come back when you come back cuz we know you bring that excitement to the game. You bring the personality that people gravitate towards Odell. I mean I’m sure you’ve got little balance in life cuz when you’re trying to achieve what you’re trying to achieve, you said it earlier, you’re sacrificing weekends. I mean you’re one of the best. You’re gonna go down as one of the best in the NFL history. You’ve got your social life, you’re an entrepreneur. And speaking of entrepreneur, you worked on Rereleasing a product with Moon called the water flosser. Where in the hell did you have the time to do that? And tell us a little bit about that. Man.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
<laugh>, I mean I find it to be somewhat easy when the younger me, my mindset had shifted, the younger me would look for endorsements and find where I can get a check. And my mind was just like, oh, if they’re throwing money, all I do is this. I didn’t have the concept and understanding of to align yourself with things that you’re passionate about. For me it was younger, it was about the money. I got a whole bunch of family members I gotta provide for everybody. I’m the one who keeps the ship afloat. And as I got older I realized no knock to anybody. Cause I mean they dropped me, it was whatever, but a head and shoulders. This is a product that I’m not, sorry, this is not something that I aligned with. It was more for the endorsement, Okay, you use this for me, I get this and that.

And again, like I was saying as I got older, it was about aligning yourself with things that you’re passionate about. And for me, my teeth was something I was always passionate about. I always was carrying Flo sticks around. I always was trying to brush my teeth at least twice a day. And it’s funny enough, I remember bringing to the moon shoot way before any of this ever started to transpire. It was just in my bag cuz I was traveling, I had this big, big water. And it was funny cuz they brought it to me and it, it almost was like, how is everything so aligned perfectly? But they brought this the portable water Flo to me and just showing me something that, again, this is coming out on December 1st and it just makes the most sense when you’re passionate about something and everything’s aligned. I think the rest of everything else takes care of itself. So it was teeth hygiene. All these things were something that were very important to me. And Kendall’s a good friend of mine, actually, it’s her birthday today. So shout to Kenny. Must love Scorpio season and full effect. But just to be able to connect with her something that she was passionate about. Yeah, really birthday today. Just to be able to connect with something that she was passionate about. And there was similar interest there. Like bro, there’s no there. There’s no better alignment than when it all flows together.

Mike Sarraille:
You said it comes out December 1st sounds like a perfect Christmas gift. Where can people find it? Amazon, the direct site. Is it in stores?

Odell Beckham Jr. :
You can get it on moonoralcare.com

Mike Sarraille:
We’ll make sure to add those links. I know my wife is loves flosser, so we we’ll have to hook up.

Odell Beckham Jr. :
Absolutely.

Mike Sarraille:
Odell, I can’t thank you enough for joining us, man. Again, we are looking forward. I say that for a lot of the football fans. Looking forward to getting you back. And for our listeners, again, hey, we’re looking for support for Triple seven Expeditions, seven continents, seven days, seven Skydives in honor of our phone. We’re also trying to raise 1,400 scholarships for military families and first responder families as well. So we will see you guys again on another episode of the Men’s Journal Everyday Warrior podcast. Again, this has been Odell Beckham Jr. And Mike Sarraille, till next time.