The Cleveland Browns were the winners of the Odell Beckham Jr. sweepstakes, but it appears they didn’t blow the rest of the competition out of the water with their offer.
The Browns acquired the superstar wide receiver from the New York Giants in exchange for the No. 17 and No. 95 overall picks in this spring’s NFL draft, as well as safety Jabrill Peppers. While this wasn’t a bargain by any stretch, the Giants reportedly didn’t send Beckham to the highest bidder.
“There were other teams that offered the Giants more than the Browns did for Odell Beckham Jr.,” Adam Schefter said on ESPN’s “The Best Laid Plans” podcast, as transcribed by WEEI.
It’s no secret that teams can gain an immediate upper hand from a logistics standpoint alone when it comes to NFL trades. It’s rare for clubs to trade players within the division, and shipping a player entirely out of the conference probably is ideal. New York checked off both of those boxes by trading Beckham to Cleveland.
As for Giants’ reasons for trading OBJ in general, New York general manager Dave Gettleman boiled it down to the organization receiving an offer they “couldn’t refuse.”With this in mind, one has to wonder how strong other teams’ offers for Beckham were.
