What a Tuesday for New York football fans. First, the Jet fans who have grown to just expect disappointment had Anthony Barr go back on his word and decide he is going to stay with Minnesota instead of becoming the outside linebacker for the Jets. Admittedly, as my friends can attest to, I was red hot at work when I got that news. Good luck Anthony, I hope you regret your decision. If that was not enough for the football gods, at around 8 pm news broke that the Giants have agreed to trade Odell Beckham Jr to the Browns.
After the season was over, John Mara went on record and said, “we certainly are not shopping him.” It is safe to say that was clearly not the case. In the past few days we have seen the two best wide receivers in football be traded in Antonio Brown and OBJ. It is fair to assume the Giants were waiting to see what the Steelers got for Antonio Brown before they accepted any offer for Beckham, a situation, if true, that was incredibly risky but mildly paid off for them. The Giants certainly got more in return for their stud receiver than the Steelers. They are receiving the Browns’ first round pick at number 17, and their later third round pick, and safety Jabrill Peppers. Peppers started all 16 games last year for the Browns and finished the year with a total of 79 tackles and one interception at the strong safety position. Unless there are other moves made by the Giants, Peppers will probably be serving as the replacement for Landon Collins who the Giants refused to franchise tag earlier this offseason.
I liked having Odell Beckham Jr in New York. He is a special player to watch, purely electrifying and he competes. He may have off the field concerns, but it seems like few players don’t nowadays in the NFL. From the fingertip catch, to dancing in the end zone, to assaulting the kicking net, and to then propose to the same kicking net, Odell was always primetime entertainment. I cannot wait to see the personalities clash in the locker room when he and Baker Mayfield meet. People said to Antonio Brown, “you better be careful what you wish for, you don’t know how good you have it;” Odell may start to feel that way too when Baker actually talks back to him instead of Eli being afraid of confrontation. The Browns offense now has plenty of weapons with this acquisition and appear to be finally competing after decades of being miserable.
If there was any doubt before this move, it is washed away; the Giants are clearly rebuilding which begs the question of what is next. They do have an old man at the QB position, but if they do not love anyone at that position in the draft, would they really draft another QB? Are they going to use the picks they got from the Browns to try to move up in the draft to assure themselves a QB? At this point, I do not see a way that Eli is not on this team at the start of this upcoming season, so calm down Giant fans. Aside from Eli, it is now clear that Barkley is the face of this team going forward and is going to continue to garnish a great deal of attention from opponents without the threat of one of, if not the best wide receivers in the NFL.
