Time for the New York Giants to make the move on from Odell Beckham Jr., this as team ownership might finally be getting fed up with the talented wide receiver.
It has been a spiral of descent for Beckham over the past three years, who initially showed his petulant side in 2014 with a series of meltdowns in a game against the Carolina Panthers. Since that time that cornerback Josh Norman got in his head, Beckham has still continued to produce but he has shown an immaturity that borders on being detrimental. Chronologically he has picked a fight with a kicking net on the sidelines, partied a week before the playoffs on Justin Bieber’s boat in Florida, punched a hole in the locker room at Lambeau Field, faux urinated like a dog during a touchdown celebration, and was photographed this past month in a compromising situation.
All of which is to say that while Beckham is talented, he is a talented liability. Finally, it appears that the team is getting fed up with all of this. Comments by owner John Mara this weekend seem to indicate that the Giants might be ready to move on, that no one is “untouchable.”
For a team in rebuilding mode, time to move on and maximize what they can get. Anything else leaves the Giants rebuilding in possible limbo.
Not only is he coming off an injury that cut his 2017 season short, Beckham is now in the final year of his rookie contract and there is no guarantee that he won’t move on from the Giants. This is a horrible scenario for New York, leaving them without anything for a player who is a generational wide receiver. Beckham clearly has otherworldly talent, a game changer who is a tremendous route runner and backs it up with athletic ability that is off the charts.
But the Giants might be cleaning out his locker in 2019 as there is no sure thing that he’ll be back or want to be back. So the time might be now for the Giants to trade Beckham, an idea that must be gaining momentum in light of recent issues.
In an ideal situation, Beckham finally gets serious and realizes that his skill set combined with discipline and a clear head could make him one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history. But there isn’t a guarantee that he will find that headspace and get his act together. At this point, he is being reckless not only with his own future but the direction of this Giants organization moving forward.
Someone will pay for him, he is simply too talented for some knucklehead owner to not want him. The Giants need to capitalize on this and move ahead fully with the idea of trading away the wide receiver who is arguably their best player.
Teams will be interested in Beckham; they will be willing to fork over multiple draft picks to get him. With no guarantee that they can retain him beyond this year or that his mentality will improve, the Giants must do what makes the most sense. It is the closest thing to a rational move in this less than desirable situation.
That means getting picks to get deeper and better while maintaining cap flexibility moving forward.
This team will still need to re-sign Landon Collins, after all, who like Beckham is in the final year of his rookie contract. Unlike Beckham, Collins doesn’t carry the same issues or baggage with him into a long-term deal.
The highlight reels are nice, so too is Beckham’s past production with the Giants. But he’s proven over the past two years and more so over the past two weeks that he isn’t a building block for the future of the Giants. The foundation of the Giants can’t be built on him or his attitude moving forward without the risk of things crumbling.
