This was my immediate reaction to hearing that Odell Beckham Jr. traded by the Giants to the Browns. In this gif, by using "I", I am in fact referring to the New York Giants. And by "huge mistake", I am in fact referring to a huge mistake. Let's start though by breaking down exactly all of the pieces in the trade. The Giants traded OBJ straight up for the Browns' 2019 1st round pick (#19 overall), the Browns' second third-round pick, and rookie safety Jabril Peppers. On their own those three assets are all good but they are nothing in return for OBJ. This is what leads me to conclude that the Giants made a huge mistake by deciding to trade OBJ.
The first reason this is a mistake is because the Giants got rid of their best player. Plain and simple. Last year, when the Giants picked Saquon Barkley in the draft, their vision was to have him be the future of their running game and have OBJ be the center of the receiving game. These two weapons would allow Eli Manning to have a revitalized season and give them another year or two to find a new QB while still winning games. However, last season went about as poorly for the Giants as it could have gone and nothing worked out the way it was supposed to for them. As a result, they were forced to speed up their timeline and go all in on rebuilding. However, I still struggle with the idea of teams giving up their franchise player or even once in a generation player. OBJ is a receiver who has made one of the greatest catches in NFL history, has had 3 1,300 yard receiving seasons, and consistently catches the most uncatchable passes week after week. He was also the main reason the Giants were a relevant football team. You could view his antics as a distraction, but frankly what they did was make the Giants a team you must tune in to each week because, as a fan, you wanted to not only see what incredible play OBJ would make, but also how he would react to events throughout the game. In my opinion, OBJ is the only reason the Giants have been relevant at all in the past 3 years.
Next, OBJ's contract isn't bad. He signed a contract extension with the Giants last season when he turned 26 for $90 million over 5 years. This averages out to about $18 million a year. Obviously he won't get all of that money because NFL players never seem to but paying under $20 million a year for the best receiver in the game seems like a bargain to me. To go back to the details of this contract, he received a $20 million signing bonus that the Giants had to pay and $41 million of the total deal is guaranteed.
Basically, as a result of all this, the Giants owe a bunch of dead-cap money with nothing to show for it. They poorly played the market last year and severely over-estimated their immediate future. Now they have to deal with the consequences of their actions and rebuild.
This is just another problem for the Giants because they have proven that they can't commit to a rebuild. With their roster construction and an aging Eli Manning, all signs over the past few years pointed to them needing a rebuild. However they refused to commit because they wanted the best of both worlds; they wanted to compete for a title and acquire good young talent. Unfortunately, it is just way too hard to do both in today's NFL. The Giants messed up big time and are now suffering the consequences.
Another reason this is a mistake is because they back-stabbed their fan-base when their current GM, Dave Gettleman lied to the New York media and said "we didn't re-sign Odell to trade him". You want to guess when he said that? Two months ago. Gettleman assured Giants fans that they were not trading the heart of their franchise and they did it anyway. Now, because of this, the Giants will be an irrelevant franchise for the next five years as they try to find themselves and become the second best team in New York after the Jets.
Finally, the Giants will be forced to draft a QB in one of the next two drafts as they move on from Eli and look for their future. However, once they draft him who will he throw to? Who on his offensive line will protect him? The Giants made Nate Solder the then highest paid tackle in the NFL last year and he looks like another overpaid player that the Patriots let go of just in time. You can't bring a young QB into a situation where he has no help and no one to throw to. Just look at what happened to Josh Rosen last year. He only had Larry Fitzgerald and absolutely nothing else on offense. He was hit repeatedly and struggled to develop at all last year as a result. The future QB of the Gaints will suffer all of these same problems unless the Giants can address the supporting cast around them.
I've talked a ton about the Giants so far. What about the Browns now? This trade makes them the most interesting team going into next year. They now have a true number one receiver who can win jump balls for them and stretch the field. They will have chemsitry problems because only so many big personalities can exist in a room together without one or two of them ceding control to another. This doesn't mean they won't succeed, but there will be a learning period for this team. The Browns will also probably restructure OBJ's contract at some point in order to give him more money but with the cap jump, the Browns are more than willing to pay extra for relevance. The Browns have an amazing team on paper but we have seeing super-teams in football like this not work out like they do in the NBA.
On a final note, the AFC playoff picture just got even more crowded. I just want to list off the teams who are considered contenders or at least have a great chance at making the playoffs: Patriots, Chiefs, Chargers, Ravens, Colts, Texans, and now Browns. There is also bound to be another team that will come out of nowhere next year and surprise us which means that this could be one of the most competitive AFC title races we've seen in a long time. I'm already excited for the NFL season and the draft hasn't even happened yet!
*stats found via ESPN stats and info
*cover image found via @Browns Twitter
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