New York Giants: Dave Gettleman’s growing disconnect
By Ed Stein
Bye bye OBJ
It was a happy day for New York Giants fans when the team signed star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to a five-year, $95M contract extension last August. OBJ is arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL. Additionally, he’s a player that makes other players better, because he draws so much attention from opposing defenses.
Along with his immense talent, is his eclectic personality. Beckham has done or said things that he and the team wish he hadn’t. On the field, there was his physical battle with a kicking net. He also had the famous dog peeing touchdown celebration in Philadelphia. Granted many Big Blue fans would probably love to pee on the Eagles field, but it was unnecessary and crude.
Off the field, Beckham ticked off management when he didn’t support quarterback Eli Manning in an October interview with ESPN. Another thing he did which annoyed the team was to spill the beans about his injury to the media before the G-Men played Washington in December.
OBJ also complained about the offense to the other receivers. For most of the season, Big Blue’s offense was pretty bad, they had under 403 yards of total offense in 14 of 16 games. The scheme deserved to be criticized because it wasn’t working.
To Gettleman, those were unforgivable sins. Further, Gettleman said he wanted to clean up what he perceived to be discord in the locker room. Therefore OBJ had to go. This despite him saying repeatedly “we didn’t sign Odell to trade him.”
While the GM went back on his statement, OBJ was open and honest. Nothing he said was a lie. In hindsight, he should have handled himself better, but he’s still a young man of 26.
The problem was Gettleman didn’t like it. Consequently, the New York Giants have $20M in dead money against the cap this season. If a team is going to give a player the type of contract OBJ got from the G-Men, maybe they (specifically, the GM) should have done their homework. It’s a hard sell to the fan base that the relationship between team and star deteriorated to a “must go” state over the course of four months when he’d been with the organization for the previous four years.
Keep in mind, OBJ was a solid citizen off the field. He was generous with his time and money for good causes and represented his team well in public appearances. Eli Manning is the face of the team but isn’t exactly a media darling due to his quiet nature.
The deal that sent OBJ to Cleveland isn’t one that will go into the annals of Giants all-time greatest trades. Jabrill Peppers and the 17th overall pick is a poor return especially considering the $20M aspect. I like Peppers, but him a mid-first-round pick was not enough.
The move reeks of desperation by a guy with an ego that couldn’t handle a star who wasn’t in lockstep with his secret vision. It didn’t matter that Beckham’s teammates loved him, his work ethic was unquestioned, or the team sold more #13 jerseys than any other. What mattered is that Gettleman (and Pat Shurmur) lacked the people skills to reign him in.