The New York Giants were said to be asking for an astronomical return for star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. In fact, general manager David Gettleman noted that he didn’t sign OBJ to a massive extension last August to turn around and trade him.
Despite all of this, New York sent the game’s most electrifying receiver to the Cleveland Browns for a first and third-round pick and safety Jabrill Peppers on Tuesday evening (more on that here).
That’s the deal Gettleman was holding out for? If so, he got absolutely fleeced by his counterpart in Cleveland, John Dorsey.
This deal now proves that the New York Football Giants are the worst-run organization in the NFL.
Cap hit: The Giants incur a huge dead cap hit by trading OBJ.
- New York will pay $16 million against the cap by moving Beckham Jr. He’s not even going to be playing for the team.
- Unlike the Antonio Brown trade in Pittsburgh, OBJ had not forced the issue. He didn’t demand a trade. New York was negotiating out of a position of strength. And it still takes on a ridiculous cap hit.
Still hanging with Eli Manning: Giants appear to be stuck in the past.
- By moving Beckham, the Giants obviously didn’t put Manning in a better situation to overcome his recent struggles. You don’t trade a receiver of that caliber and expect to get better.
- Despite this, the Giants plan on retaining Manning for the 2019 season and not starting over with a rebuild.
- Manning is set to count $23.2 million against the cap in 2019. Couple that with OBJ’s dead cap hit, and the Giants are looking at wasting nearly $40 million against the cap.
Reality vs fiction: Giants are not contending any time soon.
- We have no idea what other teams might have offered New York for OBJ. But the Giants likely took a lot less to acquire two picks in this year’s draft.
- Given that New York is looking like a last-place team again, why not convert that 2019 third-round pick into a first or second rounder in 2020? We’re pretty sure that other teams would have offered that up.
- This is just a continuation of organization-wide struggles in Jersey. Letting safety Landon Collins walk and signing free-agent bust Nate Solder last March are two examples.
It’s high time the Giants give up on any hope of contending over the short term. This team is a mess. The front office has no idea what it’s doing.
Now that OBJ is gone, start a full-scale rebuild and feature Saquon Barkley moving forward. He’s the only thing going for this team right now.
Oh, and draft a quarterback in April. Minor things.