Editor's note: This post published before the NFL suspended New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for one game.

As they do every week, NFL executives will gather Monday morning at league headquarters in New York City. They'll discuss the most noteworthy events of the weekend, and atop their list will be a vexing question: What to do about New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr.?

Beckham is a lock for a hefty fine and is a genuine candidate to be suspended after an out-of-control performance Sunday in the Giants' 38-35 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The NFL evaluates each case on its own merits, and this one is complicated. But there is every expectation that the league will give strong consideration to suspending Beckham for the Giants' nationally televised game Sunday night at the Minnesota Vikings.

First, as I noted Sunday, the NFL made fighting and other extracurricular activity a point of emphasis for 2015. The expected uptick of ejections has not materialized, however. The league asks officials to disqualify players for "flagrant" acts that it defines as "extremely objectionable, conspicuous, unnecessary, avoidable or gratuitous." Referee Terry McAulay's failure to follow through with Beckham could trigger the league to make up for it with a suspension.

Beckham didn't simply get involved in a few tussles. He was penalized three times for unsportsmanlike conduct, an event so rare that only two other players in the past 15 years have done it.

Second, Beckham could qualify as the type of repeat offender that the NFL typically targets for suspensions. He has been fined three times in his 26-game career for unsportsmanlike conduct, according to ESPN Stats & Information -- totaling $29,706. In one incident, he punched Buffalo Bills safety Duke Williams. In another, he tried to kick St. Louis Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree.

Third, and most important, Beckham's most egregious incident Sunday was his decision to chase down Norman from behind and spear him on the side of his helmet. It's true that Norman instigated his share of the scraps over the course of the game, but Beckham was responsible for the worst of them.

On the other hand, suspending Beckham would be an aggressive move relative to recent history. Commissioner Roger Goodell began cracking down on helmet-to-helmet and similar hits in 2007, and over the next eight seasons, such acts averaged 1.75 related suspensions per year.

Most of them were handed down to discourage so-called "head-hunting" defensive play, and all 14 players suspended during that period were defenders. As the chart shows, the NFL hasn't suspended anyone -- defensively or otherwise -- for a helmet-to-helmet hit since the 2014 preseason.

The Giants are on the fringe of the NFC playoff race, and Beckham -- along with this storyline -- could give the league a Week 16 ratings bonanza on Sunday Night Football. But there are plenty of teams and players, headed by the Panthers and Norman, who will be watching the NFL's response closely. The league would be well within its rights to suspend Beckham. A decision could come as early as Monday. Stay tuned.