John Harbaugh explains why Giants cut Odell Beckham Jr.

John Harbaugh said he had a “great conversation” with Odell Beckham Jr. after the Giants decided to cut the veteran just three games, 20 snaps, one target and no catches into his triumphant return to the Meadowlands.

The coach’s explanation to the veteran wide receiver: It’s not you, it’s us. Or something like that.

“It’s tough, but we just weren’t getting enough,” Harbaugh told the Big Blue press corps on Wednesday. “It just wasn’t working for us. Like I told him, I wanted to be able to get more. I wanted him to be able to do more. I wanted to get him on the field more. For whatever reason, we weren’t able to do it. Put it on us. We weren’t able to get it done. But at this point in time, that’s kind of where we were and we needed to move on.”

Translation: Beckham isn’t good enough to get on the field, which means he’s not worth wasting a roster spot for nostalgia’s sake.

We could have told the Giants this months ago, but sometimes experiential learning is necessary.

The rest of what Harbaugh had to say, via Giants.com:

You spoke pretty glowingly about the opportunity for him going into last week’s game against the Titans. What changed?

JH: I think I said I hoped he would get more chances. That’s what I said. So, nothing changed. I did hope he would get more chances. He didn’t. That’s where we stood. So, I felt like that being the case, we’re not going to be able to get it done. Roster spot wise, we need more out of that spot. And that’s what we’re going to do. Nothing about Odell. Nothing that he could do in that sense. It’s just we weren’t able to get it done, make it fit, make it work, whatever you want to call it. And I was hoping we could and we didn’t.

Why did you decide not to play him a lot when he was on the team? Was there something in practice that we didn’t see?

JH: There’s a lot of layers to it. It’s not really anything that I feel any need to have to get into with everybody. It’s not public. It’s not information that really matters. It’s very subtle. It just wasn’t the best thing for our offense, as it turned out. When they’re putting the game plan together, as plays are getting called in the game. If it doesn’t feel like to the coaches that it’s the best thing, then it’s not working. It doesn’t have to be one or two reasons. It just isn’t happening. And that’s the reason. That’s where it stops.

Devil’s advocate, John, when the offense is struggling to get in the end zone, if there’s a receiver you deemed worthy of being on the 53, before cutting him, why not give him a chance to try to get in the end zone?

JH: It’s not a logic. We’re not having a high school debate. It wasn’t working for us. We didn’t think it would make us better or we’d have had him on the field. That’s really the end of the conversation. That’s it. That’s where we go. And Odell, I hope he lands somewhere. He’s a great friend. I love the guy. I hope he lands somewhere, gets a shot. I think he’s determined to. Probably will be a better situation for him. It just wasn’t working here. That’s all that needs to be said.

John, I don’t think there’s too many other, where he was in the depth short wide receiver four, however you want to add it up. I mean, around the league, there’s not too many people that are consistently asking the coach about the wide receiver four. You don’t hear the wide receiver four’s name chanted very much across the league. Did the attention that he was drawing play a role?

JH: No, no, no. That’s all I really need to answer on it. No, it’s what’s best for the team. That’s it. And if you think it’s anything else, then you don’t know me. You don’t know what we’re doing here. It’s nothing more than that. It’s not doing enough for our offense. It’s not doing enough for our team. So, we need to make a change. And he’s not thrilled with it either. He wants to play. So, there’s no like deep conversation. There’s no conspiracy theory. It’s just we’re trying to win games. We’re trying to put the best 48, the best 53 out there for us, for our team right now. And that’s it. So, any speculation about all that, that’s just noise. Nobody cares about that. It’s the last thing I care about. So, that’s it. I told you what it is and that’s what it is. I’m not kidding. I’m not hiding anything. It’s not Watergate. Trying to be the best team we can be this week. We had a couple of guys give us some things and we’ll see if it works. Would like to get a few more points. We’d like to score some points in the red zone. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing so we can be better. And that’s it.