Odell Beckham Reaction On Career-Changing Giants Trade

Odell Beckham Jr. had arguably one of the quickest rises to stardom in professional sports since the turn of the century. One play made Beckham Jr. a global phenomenon in the span of hours. 

The former New York Giants wide receiver reeled in a breathtaking one-handed grab in the team's Sunday Night Football matchup with the Dallas Cowboys on November 23, 2014. What is now known as "The Catch" went viral overnight, a rarity at the time in the infant stages of a now vast social media landscape. 

Beckham had the look of a future franchise face, logging four 1,000-yard campaigns in his first five seasons. However, the Giants would trade him away during the 2019 offseason to the Cleveland Browns. 

Beckham had another 1,000-yard campaign the ensuing season, but injuries derailed his career and diminished his production since that time. During CBS' coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final, Beckham opened up about that move. 

"I never ever wanted to leave the New York Giants... “The reason you heard me talking about what was going on was because I was pissed because, where I come from in college, if we lost one game, our season was over.”

Beckham has matured in the years since that final season in New York and his feelings on that career-altering move come with a little more lived experience. However, that does not necessarily make them true. 

His string of on-field incidents reflected his unhappiness in New York which he echoed in an interview a few years ago. Additionally, that trade put him in position to play with LSU teammate Jarvis Landry in Cleveland, a reality the two sought after. 

The truth? The Giants trade of Beckham was a shocking move but nonetheless self-inflicted on the player's part. Injuries helped derail his time in Cleveland after being released after the 2021 trade deadline, so there are certainly some "what ifs" to contemplate from his side. 

Beckham did reach the sport's mountain top, winning Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams. But the career that started to materialize in the years following that remarkable catch never quite came together. 

And in that journey is where Beckham must deal with a sobering truth about that trade. Whether or not he wanted to be traded at the time, he made enough of a fuss to open that door for the Giants. That has now resulted in him having to come to terms with that reality years later.