Odell Beckham Jr. still believes the Giants had bad intentions in trading him to the Browns.
Nearly five years after his surprising deal, Beckham doesn't seem to fully understand how the end of his time with the Giants happened.
“I feel a little bit like I was passed over by the Giants. Like I said before, they sent me to Cleveland to die,” the Ravens receiver said of teammate Marlon Humphrey's comments. “Punchline Podcast” He quoted comments he made to Sports Illustrated in 2019.
“I could have gone to the 49ers. I could have gone to the Patriots. I could have gone to a team that had a chance to be great, but that wasn't what they wanted. “This is who we are. was the best trade package we could offer you.' Your desire was to tease me a little, I feel that way. I feel like I made fun of you and your organization, but that wasn't my real intention. That's how competitive I am. I wanted to win. I always wanted to win. ”
The Giants traded Beckham for Jabrill Peppers, Kevin Zeitler, and a first- and third-round pick from the 2019 draft for Dexter Lawrence and Oshane Ximinez, respectively.
Beckham insists his actions, which some interpreted as a distraction, were because he was “tired” of losing. The Giants went 6-10 in each of Beckham's first two seasons. In his third season, he went 11-5, losing to the Packers in the wild-card round. He went 3-13 in his fourth season and 5-11 in 2018 before being traded.
Beckham, 31, lamented the Giants' lack of changes to help Eli Manning.
“I'd like to see Eli go to the Super Bowl again. We don't have any issues around him,” Beckham said. “I was wasted too.”
Beckham said he was in Paris for Drake's tour when he received a call from general manager Dave Gettleman about the trade.
Gettleman infamously said he didn't sign Beckham to trade him, but instead traded him for one season after signing him to a five-year, $95 million contract extension.
“It felt like a bit of a malicious move,” Beckham said.
Beckham spent two and a half drama-filled seasons with the Browns, and was waived in November 2021 due in part to injuries and a lack of involvement on the offensive line.
He then signed with the Rams and helped them win the Super Bowl, scoring a touchdown in the game before tore his ACL and was forced to miss all of last season.
Beckham signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the Ravens and had 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games.
The top-seeded Ravens will host the Texans in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
