New York Giants: On trading Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns

New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. clearly enjoys training with members of the Cleveland Browns. Perhaps his future football home could be in Northeast Ohio.

New York Giants fans may want to get used to the idea of the franchise trading superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr..

Before you rush to the comments section or to social media to respond to even the thought of Big Blue shipping its more valuable asset out of town, realize the Giants should not consider dealing Beckham at any point this summer. It’s too early, and the club would receive too little in compensation for a top-tier athlete who hasn’t yet returned from a latest physical setback. Now isn’t the time for this transaction.

Unless Beckham and the Giants come to terms on a new contract before the start of the season, something that seems unlikely as of the typing of this sentence, conversations among analysts, radio hosts, fans and outside observers about the future playing home of the 25-year-old are inevitable. Obviously, Giants ownership and those in the team’s front office would love to keep Beckham in an ideal world. Whether or not that world exists is unknown.

For the purposes of this piece, remove any alleged concerns about Beckham’s behavior during games and off the field from the equation. When healthy, Beckham possesses the talent and athleticism to be better than any other NFL receiver. He deserved to be an MVP candidate following the 2016 regular season. The records he has already broken speaks to what he is, as of July 2018, and what he could still become.

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As with different situations in sports and life, the Giants re-signing Beckham isn’t a black-and-white matter. Durability is a worry regardless of reports that Beckham looks healthy and good as new coming off the fractured ankle that cost him the bulk of the 2017 season. Add in the contests Beckham missed while recovering from lingering hamstring issues during his rookie campaign, and he has essentially been sidelined an entire year, in total, since the Giants drafted him in 2014.

A fine line separates a player who is unlucky on multiple occasions over a four-year period from one who is injury prone and who will never reach his ceiling because of his body repeatedly betraying him. If, for example, Beckham suffers another mishap that keeps him a spectator for more than a couple of games this coming fall, the Giants could regret not trading him ahead of this year’s draft. Keeping Beckham was always a risk.

So is locking him down. Unless you haven’t been paying attention, you’re probably well aware Beckham expects to be paid, and paid the big bucks, in 2019. New York will likely free funds by making a difficult decision regarding quarterback Eli Manning next winter, but remember the Giants still have multiple young talents to sign other than Beckham. Tying “x” amount of salary cap up on a single receiver may not be the best business practice for the club.

Enter the Cleveland Browns, the worst franchise in the NFL throughout the 2010s but also a team (hoped to be) on the rise following multiple acquisitions. The Browns are rebuilding after an 0-16 season, of course, but the plan is no longer for the process to be lengthy. Unofficially, ownership expects the Browns to, at the very least, compete for a playoff spot next year.

Per Spotrac, the Browns still have more cap space than any other team. Quarterback Baker Mayfield, drafted by Cleveland this year, will be on a rookie contract through 2021 or 2022 unless the franchise pays him before then. Beckham, meanwhile, recently spent some time training with Mayfield and Cleveland wide receiver and former LSU teammate Jarvis Landry. Adam Henry, Beckham and Landry’s position coach in college, is Cleveland’s wide receivers coach.

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As Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com wrote, Beckham is vastly underpaid compared to other receivers. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell is betting on himself and the notion a franchise will pay him for what he should be worth on the market and not for the position he plays. Beckham, knowing a team like the Browns could splash major cash for his services, may follow in Bell’s footsteps.

Connecting the dots for how Beckham wears Cleveland orange and browns in November isn’t difficult. Say the Giants open the season losers of five of six, and the Browns decide they want to go all-in on winning as quickly as possible. Some interesting phone conversations could occur in such a scenario, especially if the Cleveland front office makes the Giants an offer Big Blue can’t refuse.