Odell Beckham Jr.: The Giants Traded Me To Browns To Die

Ex-Browns wideout Odell Beckham Jr. looked back on the trade that sent him from New York to Cleveland in 2019, and explains why he doesn't believe the Giants had his best intentions in mind

Many Browns fans still remember where they were that faithful night of March 12, 2019 when news broke that one of the NFL's biggest stars, Odell Beckham Jr. was being traded to Cleveland from the Giants.

The moment was supposed to represent a turning point for a long dilapidated franchise that had finally arrived. It didn't quite go as planned though. 

Just two and a half short years later, OBJ was released after a rift between him and then Browns QB Baker Mayfield played out very publicly on social media. He wound up winning the Super Bowl with the Rams later that season, so things worked out pretty well for Beckham Jr.

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Now, the 31-year-old wideout is ramping up for another Super Bowl run with his new team, the Ravens but joined the Punch Line Podcast to look back on the now questionable trade. According to Beckham Jr., the Giants saw Cleveland as a football Siberia of sorts, where his career would become irrelevant.

"There's semi a bit of me that feel like the Giants sent me off, I've said it before, sent me off to Cleveland to die," he said. "I could have went to the 49ers, I could have went to the Patriots, I could have went to teams that had a chance to be great and that's not what their desire was. You can't tell me that this was the best trade package that we could have got for you.

"[They] felt like I made a fool of you or the organization and that was truly never my intention. I'm just that competitive. I just wanted to win."

The Giants sent me off to Cleveland to die pic.twitter.com/zhevrg2YNF

— Punch Line Podcast (@punchlinepod44) January 15, 2024

 

The Browns finished 6-10 in Beckham Jr.'s first year with the team under one-and-done head coach Freddie Kitchens. He compiled 1,035 yards and four touchdowns that year. Things seemed to be coming together in Kevin Stefanski's first year as head coach in 2020 as the team got off to a 4-2 start before Beckham Jr. suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season. Even in his absence the team went on to finish 11-5 and clinch a playoff berth, advancing to the Divisional Round of the postseason.

That set the stage for a 2021 season with massive expectations with Beckham Jr. back in the fold but it never quite materialized. In the middle of the campaign, OBJ's father shared a video highlighting Mayfield's inability to get his son the ball. It became an inflection point for the organization's brass that opted to cut ties with the at times embattled wide receiver

Beckham Jr. commented on that situation as well during his podcast appearance, deflecting blame from his dad for the mysterious orgins of the video.

"My pops could not orchestrate that video," Beckham Jr. stated. "My pops couldn't even post it right. Like, his name's Odell Beckham Sr., I'm Odell Beckham Jr.  At the end of the day he carries that torch and that legacy as well and he just kinda had had enough.

"This was something that was sent to him or found, a 14-minute video. My pops, would never. But like, in hindsight, the world we live in, you could always find something on the other end that could support whatever narrative one tries to support, like you could always find evidence for it."

Did OBJ’s Dad ACTUALLY make the Baker missed throws video? pic.twitter.com/L8tXuTQaON

— Punch Line Podcast (@punchlinepod44) January 15, 2024

For what it's worth, Beckham Jr. goes on to explain that he truly thought he'd be in Cleveland for an extended period of time, which is why he bought a house in the area. He also expressed that he did believe in Mayfield as the team's franchise QB.

Oh, what could have been.