Making Sense of the OBJ Trade

Many in the media, including ESPN’s brilliant football commentator Bill Barnwell, have blasted Giants GM Dave Gettleman for the Odell Beckham trade. But was it really a bad move? With all due respect to Mr. Barnwell, I respectfully submit that it was not.

The Giants need to rebuild. Could they have done that with Beckham? Sure. He’s in his prime and is one of the faces of the NFL, arguably the best receiver in the league. (Arguably.) But trading Beckham accelerates the rebuild, and rids the team of a headache for the coaching staff, ownership, and front office. Let’s not forget this this is a player who is less than a year removed from being caught on video with what appeared to be cocaine, a player who publicly clashed with his coaches this past season, and a player who wore out his welcome with ownership shortly after signing his mega-extension.

The Beckham trade makes sense, in light of those factors, but it also makes sense based on the Giants’ roster. This team just lost in-the-box strong safety Landon Collins in free agency. By trading Beckham, they were able to acquire a much cheaper player with a similar skill set in Jabrill Peppers. Plus, Peppers has the ability to return punts and kicks, should the team so desire.

But the big prizes in the trade, obviously, were the draft picks. New York acquired 1st and 3rd round draft picks THIS YEAR for Beckham. Often times when these types of trades are made, the draft capital provided is in future years. Not so here. The Giants were able to come away with the 17th and 95th overall picks in next month’s draft. That is meaningful draft capital as they attempt to fill the many holes on their roster.

The Giants have a number of needs, but the most glaring appear to be starting quarterback (Eli Manning has turned into a check-down artist), right tackle, pass rusher (Olivier Vernon, we hardly knew ye), and cornerback. They could theoretically address all of those needs in this draft.

Quarterback is the biggest issue. I know that many NFL pundits have them selecting Ohio State QB Dwyane Haskins in the NFL draft, but I suspect some team is going to leapfrog them to get Haskins. What makes more sense is a trade for Arizona’s Josh Rosen - assuming you believe the near-universal reports that the Cardinals are smitten with Kyler Murray and will take him No. 1 overall. Early reports are that Rosen could be had for a third round pick. I don’t care if he costs that, or a second - the Giants should willingly pay that cost for a guy who was viewed as one of the top players in the draft last year, whom the Cardinals traded up to get, and who did not have a legitimate chance to showcase his skills in Arizona because of the horrendous offensive line and pitiful outside pass-catchers at his disposal. Trade a second or third round pick for Rosen, let him battle it out with Eli, and cut Eli in 2020.

Now, one might reasonably object that New York’s line is equally bad as Arizona’s. But perhaps not - LG Will Hernandez was solid in his rookie year, the team just traded for RG Kevin Zeitler, LT Nate Solder can be counted on to be average, and the team should spend the 8th overall pick on RT Jawaan Taylor out of Florida. With that, the team has the makings of a solid offensive line, one that can protect Rosen and open running lanes for Saquon Barkley.

The remaining question is what to do with the second first round pick, the one acquired from Cleveland in the Beckham deal. One option is cornerback, where the team is looking for a starting corner opposite Janoris Jenkins, but they may already have an in-house solution. The Giants spent a 3rd round pick in the supplemental draft last year on Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal, who was injured for his rookie season. If Beal is able to step into a starting role, they can wait until later in the draft to address their need. In the alternative, they can use the second of their two first round picks on a corner such as LSU’s Greedy Williams (likely gone by that point), Georgia’s DeAndre Baker, or Washington’s Byron Murphy, or even Notre Dame’s Julian Love.

The other option is pass-rusher. The team is switching to a 3-4 defense this year under former Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher, The current roster isn’t ideal for that scheme, but there are some pieces that could help. They spent an early draft pick last year on Lorenzo Carter, so he may be able to provide some juice off the edge. But if they wanted to double down, they could select an edge rusher like Florida State’s Brian Burns to rush from the outside linebacker spot, or even Florida’s Jachai Polite (although I’m not as high on him as many others are). Or, if they wanted to reverse the strategy, they could take a player like MIchigan’s Rashan Gary or Kentucky’s Josh Allen at No. 8 overall, and select a player like Cody Ford at No. 17 and plug him in at right tackle.

Under these scenarios, the Giants could fix both their offense and their defense in one offseason. Now, I know what you’re thinking: you still haven’t replaced Beckham. But it’s not like Beckham was the only pass-catching threat on this team. They still have Evan Engram, they still have Sterling Shepard, they still have Saquon Barkley. All of those guys have proven to be capable pass-catchers. Do they still need outside wide receivers? Sure. But this is a draft that has depth at that position. The Giants could easily find a wideout in the second or third round (depending on which pick they traded for Rosen) that they could plug into their starting lineup. Now, that player surely won’t give them Beckham’s production; he’s a generational talent. But they could likely have a much more functional offense with a better offensive line, a quarterback like Rosen, and a receiving corps led by Shepard, Engram, Barkley, and a rookie drafted on Day 2.

The question should not be, “How do the Giants replace Odell Beckham?” The question should be, “Can the Giants make themselves better by trading Beckham?” I believe that they can. Now they just need to go out there and do it.