New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman was adamant he did not sign wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to a long-term extension only to turn around and trade him. Until he did.
It had also been reported the Giants were not actively shopping Beckham, but to at least a small degree, that proved to be false.
Prior to coming to an agreement with the Cleveland Browns, Gettleman attempted to scare up trade interest by reaching out to the Buffalo Bills after their deal to land Antonio Brown fell through, reports NBC’s Peter King.
Gettleman reached out first to only one team before dealing Beckham: Buffalo. When the Antonio Brown deal fell through, Gettleman called Bills GM Brandon Beane wondering if he was so interested in Antonio Brown, how about Beckham? Beane didn’t bite.
Interestingly, King also reports, contrary to statements made by media members in recent days, that the Giants and Browns were not engaged in Beckham trade talks leading up to the blockbuster and that the deal for Olivier Vernon was initially completely separate.
A week ago this morning, there’d been no seeds planted for the Odell Beckham Jr.-to-Cleveland trade. Sources very close to both the Giants and Browns have told me there was no contact made about Beckham until last Tuesday morning—half a day before the deal was finalized shortly after 7 p.m. that night. So there was no talk of Beckham in the previous Olivier Vernon-for-Kevin Zeitler deal, as had been speculated.
Additionally, the Giants refused to pull the trigger on the Browns trade unless safety Jabrill Peppers was included. Eventually, as we now know, Cleveland caved to Gettleman in that regard.
The Beckham trade would not have gotten done without the inclusion of Jabrill Peppers. Fact.
Meanwhile, as it had been reported for nearly a year, Gettleman was also pushing for two first-round picks in exchange for Beckham, but that proved to be more than anyone was willing to spend. Ultimately, he settled for a first-round pick, third-round pick and, of course, Peppers.
Rarely, if ever, does the NFL fan get such an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at a trade, but in this case, it was beneficial for all to separate fact from fiction, and thankfully, King has done just that.
