The New York Giants and odell beckham jr. are at a crossroads. While OBJ has proven that he may be the best and most explosive wide receiver in the NFL today, he missed two-thirds of this past year, the last year of his rookie contract, with a broken ankle that required surgery. Giants ownership, in particular, John Mara, had spoken favorably of paying the mercurial wide-out the kind of best of position dollars that OBJ may have expected, before the start of the 2017 season. However, an 0 and 5 start for the Giants, and a broken ankle for Odell Beckham Jr.
changed everything.
Can OBJ stay healthy?
Yes, injuries are a cruel part of the game, and this is not the first time Beckham has missed 10 or more weeks in a stretch, with an injury. And, management has a dilemma. As is the case in all athletics, there are no guarantees that your start receiver comes back as the same dominant athlete following his recovery. The Giants had a recent situation with another meteoric talent in victor cruz. In the end, the Giants didn’t feel he had the same skills after returning from a calf injury that kept him out 15 games following surgery. So it is not likely that the New York Giants management is going to pay Beckham league-leading dollars before he puts in an entire body of work this year.
One can’t blame them.
Drama doesn't play well in a NY Giants locker room
On the other hand, with Beckham, there is the question of his maturation on the field and sidelines. One might say that OBJ has gotten caught up in the “me” generation. Alright, good for him, he has the eye of the sponsors. Unfortunately, some of his antics such as attacking an opposing player on the field, and running around on the sideline like a madman until stopped by a kicking net, and mimicking a dog peeing on a fire hydrant during a touchdown celebration, were not acceptable behaviors for the NFL or the New York Giants.
In a worst-case scenario, Giants' ownership may well be dealing with that kind of drama for an entire career.
There is another choice that may seem unreasonable to some, but it is not so far out there if you think back to the Victor Cruz situation. Sportskeeda wrote about a couple of trades that would have the New York Giants end up with 3 picks in the top 10 of this year’s NFL draft, were they willing to let go of OBJ.
The scenario goes like this. The Giants (who have the 2nd overall pick in the draft) trade OBJ to San Francisco for their 3rd overall pick, affording a young receiver for the 49ers' Jimmy Garoppolo. The Giants trade their 2nd to Cleveland for the Browns' 1st overall and a 7th pick they got from the Texans. The Giants could throw in a couple of later round picks or an active player to even things up. Cleveland would most likely end up with franchise quarterbacks Josh Rosen or Sam Darnold. "Big Blue" could decide on two smash-mouth offensive linemen or Saquon Barkley, an RB out of Penn State, one lineman, and a good linebacker candidate.
I can tell you that the New York Giants have won Super Bowls with no-name wide receivers before. But, they haven’t won one without an offensive line.
