The main theme of the New York Giants offseason has been whether or not their superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr will remain on the team.
Throughout the entire offseason, there have been rumors and speculation that the New York Giants would look to trade their 25-year-old star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
There were reports that the Giants wanted at least two first-round draft picks in exchange for Beckham, and there were even reports that OBJ told a few Los Angeles Rams players that he wanted to join them.
Giants have asked for at least two first-round picks in return for Odell Beckham Jr., a league source tells ESPN, even though team insists it is not shopping him.
Doesn’t mean they get it, or close to it, or even trade OBJ. But they have asked for at least two first-round picks.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 28, 2018
With the NFL Draft just a week away, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the reports of the Giants parting ways with Beckham were overblown, and that he’ll remain with the team for this season, at least, if not for years to come.
Why? We’ve got four reasons.
1. He’s by far their best player
As he has shown in his four seasons with Big Blue, Beckham is far and away the Giants best player. He’s just entering the prime of his career. Nobody would trade away the face of their franchise and one of the best players in the league when they’re just entering their prime.
He has shown numerous times throughout that he has the ability to score from anywhere on the field.
Players like Beckham come around once a generation. He can maximize whatever time Eli Manning has left under center, and, if he’s still around after Eli retires, will help Manning’s eventual successor.
2. The Giants and OBJ need each other
This is the second go around for Pat Shurmur as an NFL head coach and for Dave Gettleman as a general manager. They can ill-afford to have a slow start to their second tenures at their respective positions. Trading away your best player is about the worst way to quickly turn around a 3-13 team.
Beckham is looking to have another Pro Bowl season so that he can get a huge new contract that will make him the highest paid receiver in the league. His best chance of doing that is to keep playing with the quarterback responsible for all 313 of his receptions and 38 touchdowns.
That’d be Manning.
While the Giants offense has struggled mightily over the last two seasons, the Manning-to-Beckham connection has not. The Giants want to make last season a distant memory. OBJ wants to win and become the highest paid receiver. They need each other in order to make it happen.
3. Too late to trade and get close to equal value
Most teams that needed receiver help have already addressed that need in free agency. The teams that haven’t will look to draft a receiver such as Calvin Ridley from Alabama or Courtland Sutton from SMU.
With the draft a week away and Beckham coming off ankle surgery, teams will be less likely to give up a substitutional amount to trade for him. If there was any validity to the reports from earlier this offseason that the Giants wanted two first-round draft picks in exchange for Beckham, it’s unlikely a team would pull the trigger on that deal with a player coming off of a major injury.
4. There’s nothing like winning in the Big Apple
One of the reasons Beckham has become a global celebrity is because he has had tremendous individual success in the world’s biggest market. Think about it. From a talent standpoint, Beckham and Antonio Brown are very similar; in fact, many say Brown is the better receiver of the two.
But Beckham is by far the bigger well known celebrity worldwide, and if he wins a championship in the tri-state area, he’ll become an even bigger star.
It’s true that Beckham has established himself as such a big star that he’ll attract attention no matter where he plays. But there’s nothing like winning in the Big Apple and he knows that, which is why he’ll want to remain a Giant for the entirety of his career.
So relax and have faith Giants fans. You’ll see OBJ scoring touchdowns for the Giants in 2018 and for years to come.