It appears there’s no love lost between Odell Beckham Jr. and the New York Giants.
After spending the first five seasons of his NFL career in New York, Beckham was traded to the Cleveland Browns at the turn of the new league year. It’s tough to imagine OBJ has any qualms about his new situation, as the Browns are being pegged as a Super Bowl dark house, while the Giants are primed for another lousy campaign.
New York made out OK in the blockbuster, as it acquired the 17th and 95th overall picks in this year’s draft as well as a promising safety/return specialist in 2017 first-rounder Jabrill Peppers. But Beckham believes the Giants turned down better offers in order to send him to Cleveland, where his original team felt he’d be hard-pressed for success.
“In a situation like his, Beckham says, a star player will often get a chance to discuss his preferred trade destinations. But he was never asked,” Sports Illustrated’s Ben Baskin writes. “In fact, he claims to know that the Giants received better offers and still chose to send him to Cleveland, out of spite, hoping to stain his career with the enduring stigma that comes with playing for the Browns. ‘This wasn’t no business move,’ he says. ‘This was personal. They thought they’d send me here to die.'”
Yes, the Browns were the laughing stock of the league for the past decade, but there’s no doubt this label is on its way out. After all, Cleveland nearly clinched a spot in the playoffs last season and boasts some of the most exciting young talent the NFL has to offer. Beckham also received an upgrade at quarterback going from the declining Eli Manning to the budding Baker Mayfield.
So while it’s only natural for Beckham to harvest ill will toward his former team, the Giants didn’t exactly hang him out to dry.
