EAST RUTHERFORD -- Note to John Mara: Making Odell Beckham Jr. a Giant for life is not going to be cheap.

The star wide receiver is still at least two years away from free agency, but he already knows what he wants. Forget being the NFL's highest-paid pass catcher, he said Thursday in an UNINTERRUPTED video. Beckham wants to be the league's highest-paid player at any position.

"It's like the elephant in the room, and you don't want to talk about it," Beckham says in the video. "But I've gotten to the point in my life where I'm like, 'No, I'm going to ... there's no need to not talk about it.

"I believe that I will be hopefully not just the highest-paid receiver in the league, but the highest paid, period."

Beckham spoke to UNINTERRUPTED, a multimedia platform for professional athletes founded by LeBron James, on Monday, July 24, according to the video - three days before the Giants' report day to training camp, which was Thursday. He also discusses expectations, his mindset and more in the video, which is about three minutes long.

The platform uploaded the video to YouTube with the initial headline "Odell Wants To Be NFL's Top Paid Player," but has since been changed to "Odell Fears Falling Out Of Love With Football." No matter, Beckham's comments are clear. There is no mistaking what he meant to say.

Given the meteoric rise and on-field impact Beckham has had playing for one of the NFL's flagship franchises in the biggest media market in the world, it's not that crazy of a goal to aim for. How realistic it may or may not be remains to be seen.

The NFL's current highest-paid player is Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who recently signed a five-year, $125 million extension. He'll soon be surpassed, though, with Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford set for an extension in Detroit and Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins likely to hit free agency in some capacity after this year.

The nature of NFL contracts also allow for loose interpretations about the definition of "highest-paid" as well. Beckham could, for example, settle for receiving the most guaranteed money of any active player contract, or receiving a historic fully-guaranteed deal, rather than have the highest annual salary number.

Beckham is scheduled to make just $1.8 million this year, the fourth season of his rookie deal, and about $8.5 million in 2018 under his fifth-year option. Mara, the team's co-owner, has made it clear he wants Beckham to play with the Giants for his entire career. Mara reinforced the team wants to get Beckham signed long-term Thursday in comments to The New York Post, but said no negotiations have begun yet.

But when they do, it sounds like they will be quite interesting.

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James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.