As it relates to the New York Giants possibly trading stud wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., two first-round NFL Draft picks is simply not enough compensation.
Authentic or not, it’s a must-have conversation especially coming off a week in which John Mara said he’s tired of having to answer questions about Odell Beckham Jr. while proclaiming nobody is untouchable after such a horrid 3-13 campaign.
On Tuesday, Mara said that Beckham is not on the trading block.
On Wednesday, Gary Meyers of the New York Daily News reported that Beckham had told two Los Angeles Rams players that he wants to play for them.
Today's back page: @OBJ_3 has told Rams players he wants in, per source https://t.co/YlzedTub6M pic.twitter.com/o5muSWDatc
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) March 28, 2018
The NFL draft is just under a month away so anything between now and then, but one thing is for sure, it would take more than two first-round draft picks for the Giants to trade OBJ to the Rams.
Yes, Beckham has brought some unwanted attention to the Giants organization such as brawling with Josh Norman in 2015, picking up costly unsportsmanlike penalties. Then there was the controversial video that surfaced a few weeks ago with him lying in a bed while holding a brown cigarette in his hand next to a pizza and a model who was cutting a white powdery substance with a credit card.
Push all of it to the side for a moment. The man has also been by far and away the Giants best player since they drafted him in the first round of the 2014 draft (12th overall), and one of the best players in the NFL.
As a team, the Giants may only have a 21-27 record with Beckham on the field including the 2016 wild-card loss to the Packers (43.75 winning percentage), but they’ve only won five out of the 17 games he’s missed in his four seasons (29.4 winning percentage).
The Giants lack of winning during Beckham’s four years with Big Blue is more attributed to a porous offensive line and defense. The defense has finished 29th, 32th, 10th and 31st in total defense in OBJ’s tenure and the rushing offense finished 23rd, 19th, 29th, and 26th.
It’s next to impossible to win in the NFL when you can’t run the ball and are consistently at the bottom of the league in defense.
Despite playing without a threat of a running game and defenses zeroing in on him, Beckham has finished in the top 10 in the NFL in receptions, yards and receiving touchdowns whenever he’s played in at least 12 games.
To see how much Beckham means to the Giants, all you have to do is look at what he did in the 2016 season.
Of Eli Manning’s 4,027 passing yards that season he accounted for 1,367 of them (33.94 percent) and he caught 10 of Manning’s 26 touchdown passes. He also scored game-winning touchdowns against the Ravens and Cowboys where he took short slant passes 66 and 61 yards to the house.
Then we saw how putrid the Giants offense looked this season once Beckham was lost for the season with a fractured ankle. In the Giants final 11 games without him, they scored 20 points or more just twice, after scoring 20 points or more in the last three games Beckham appeared in.
Despite playing in just four games last season, he led all Giants wide receivers in touchdowns with three.
So the idea trading your best player for two college prospects that could be bust would be a huge mistake. Especially if the Giants are considering trading him to the Rams who are one of the best teams in the league and currently have the 23rd pick in next month’s draft.
If they were to trade for Beckham, they could make it to at least the conference championship game or better, which means their first-round pick in the 2019 draft could be in the 30s. So the Giants owning the Rams 23rd pick in 2018 draft and their first-round pick in 2019, which could be the 30th pick, is simply not enough for the Giants to trade away talent like Beckham.
Unless a team offers a Herschel Walker type of offer, the Giants shouldn’t consider trading the talent-ladened kid.
Here's our @nydnsports back page. @giants #OdellBeckhamJr @obj3 @nfl @nflnetwork @APSE_sportmedia https://t.co/z0weQNgD7m pic.twitter.com/x6C8hysgI6
— Back Page Guy NYDN (@BackPageGuyNYDN) March 29, 2018
There might be some tension between the Giants front office and Beckham, but eventually, cooler heads will prevail.
Upon being named general manager, Dave Gettleman proclaimed that Beckham has a clean slate with him, and John Mara and Steve Tisch have reiterated that they want Beckham to remain a Giant.
Due to limited cap space, it’s unlikely a contract extension happens in 2018. But with the $19.5 million they cleared up for next season, when they traded Jason Pierre-Paul to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they’ll be able to work out a long-term deal with OBJ.
The New York Giants definitely shouldn’t part ways with Beckham for two 1st round draft picks (especially in the Rams case). The bidding must start at a king’s ransom.