Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard about the situation going on between the New York Football Giants and star WR, Odell Beckham Jr. You’re probably plenty sick of it too.
Odell Beckham Jr. wants to be the highest paid player in the league. Odell Beckham Jr. has a controversial video released. Giants want to trade Odell Beckham Jr. On and on it goes.
What seems to get mixed up in all of this is that Odell Beckham Jr. is a phenomenal football player. The words “generational talent” often are used when people describe Odell. He has broken a ton of records since he entered the league. He is the only player in NFL history to have 1,300+ receiving yards while playing in 12 or fewer games in season, the fastest to 250 receptions, and fastest to 4,000 receiving yards, to name a few. Odell Beckham Jr. has pretty much been the Giants offense since he came into the league (38 TDs in 47 games!!) and is on track to be a Hall of Fame caliber player if he keeps it up.
So why would the Giants want to trade him?
This all began when Giants co-owner and team president, John Mara, was asked about Odell Beckham Jr. at the NFL owners meeting.
“I mean we’re certainly not shopping him, if that’s what you’re asking. But when you’re coming off a season where you’re 3-13 and played as poorly as we played, I wouldn’t say anyone’s untouchable,” Mara said.
Mara was (poorly) trying to send a message that the Giants will sign him on their terms as well as cover his tracks should anything go awry during the negotiation process. If Mara came out and said, “I want Odell to be a Giant for life no matter what it takes,” it gives Odell’s camp all the leverage. The fans and media would hold Mara accountable if the deal didn’t get done when he assured us it would. He had to leave the door open that no one’s untouchable. This entire thing was just posturing that ended up sounding worse than was intended, and the media ran with it.
The Giants are in the process of trying to resign Beckham. Beckham has said himself that he wants to be the highest paid player in the league. While being the highest paid player is unlikely, being the highest paid WR is not.
Two WR’s in Odell Beckham Jr’s draft class signed 2nd contracts this offseason; Mike Evans got a 5 year $82.5M contract ($16.5M average) and Sammy Watkins just got a 3 year $48M contract ($16M average). Neither one of these players are on Odell’s level, skill or marketing wise. Odell influences the masses and is celebrated internationally. His record setting production on the field alone makes him valuable for whatever teams he’s on – add in his marketability – and you got the recipe for Odell Beckham Jr. being the highest paid WR in the league – and he is worth every penny.
It should be of no surprise then, that once Mara made that comment, suddenly there were “league sources” saying the Giants are trying to trade Odell. Giants beat writers, who have sources close to the team, have not been able to confirm this. In fact, quite the opposite. Sources told Newsday that they’d be very surprised and it is unlikely the Giants trade Odell.
The day after his initial comment, John Mara backtracked and repeatedly said that the Giants are not shopping or trying to trade Odell. Here are a few of his quotes:
“I don’t know how much more clearly I can say it: I don’t want him to be traded, I want him to be a Giant.”
“He’s not on the block” … “Is that gonna stop clubs from possibly calling us? No. But he’s not the block. We’re not shopping him.’’
“Do I want him to be traded? Absolutely not. I want him to be a Giant, but I can’t promise that’s going to happen.’’
“We’re not looking to get rid of him. I’d like him to be a Giant.”
Pretty clear that Mara wants Odell on the team.
Yet the media takes that initial comment by the Giants owner and misconstrues and transforms it to create a story. Think about it… Before John Mara opened his mouth, there were no rumors from “sources” saying the Giants wanted to trade Odell.
There are now reports from “league sources” that Odell is going to hold out until he gets a new contract. But then, there’s Giants new head coach, Pat Shurmur, who met with Odell as recently as last week saying he expects him at OTA’s in April.
League sources could be ANYONE. It could be from division rivals in the NFC East for all we know, trying to fuel the fire to the controversy. Everything that has come out from a Giants owners, GM, coach, and beat reporters, say they want Odell on the team. Every single rumor that has come out has come from “sources” outside the organization.
Fact of the matter is, Odell Beckham Jr. is an amazingly talented player. And the Giants are not in the position to get rid of a player of his caliber.
I’ll leave you with these quotes about Odell from GM Dave Gettleman and Head Coach Pat Shurmur:
“The bottom line is, Ernie (Accorsi) taught me this and I told you guys this, you don’t quit on talent,” Gettleman said. “He’s on our team. … The kid works his fanny off. His rehab (for the ankle fracture) is going terrific. He sends us pictures and video. He’ll send us a video of him running. He is an excellent worker.”
“We always want weapons. He’s been an outstanding player, especially his first three years,” Shurmur said. “We want really, really good players. We want guys who are passionate about playing the game. We want guys that understand the importance of relationships, which means they want to be coached. And we want guys that understand what it is to be a good teammate.”
Love him or hate him, everything the Giants have said indicates Odell Beckham Jr. is not going anywhere.
