This wide receiver mess for Big Blue shines giant-sized spotlight on the Odell Beckham trade

The Giants have tried their best to distance themselves from the fallout of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade, swatting away Beckham’s claims of being “disrespected” by the trade and his contention that he was the reason the Giants had been featured so often in primetime games during his run in New York.

Pat Shurmur, who was surprised that Beckham felt the coach was the biggest reason for the trade, took the diplomatic route, saying he’s “hopeful [Beckham] can go to Cleveland and help them win football games and play good football.”

General manager Dave Gettleman, who was almost certainly the central figure in pursuing the trade, said the Giants are “moving on. We wish him the best.” He testily declined to say anything else. “No more Odell questions,” he said Friday in response to a reporter’s follow-up.

Eli Manning offered probably the sharpest response to Beckham – in vintage understated fashion – when he said of Beckham’s comments, “You just kinda shake your head and laugh. We won a few games before he was here.”

Try as they might, the repercussions of the Beckham trade continue to reverberate. In fact, the events of the first few days of training camp have shined a giant-sized spotlight on the deal.

While Beckham has joined a Browns’ team that could be ready for an eventual playoff run with him, his best friend and fellow receiver Jarvis Landry, and quarterback Baker Mayfield, the Giants’ receiving corps is already a mess.

--- Sterling Shepard, who signed a four-year, $41 million contract extension in the offseason, suffered a broken thumb on his first day of practice Thursday. He hopes to be back for the regular season but may not play at all in the preseason.

--- Corey Coleman, the former Browns’ first-round pick who was jettisoned after just two years but was on the Giants’ roster for half the 2018 season, suffered a torn ACL the same day and is done for the year.

---  Now comes the news Saturday that veteran Golden Tate, who was signed to a four-year contract in March – a deal that includes $23 million in guarantees – may miss the first four games of the regular season because of a failed test for performance enhancing drugs. Tate has appealed the decision, claiming that a product he took in April as part of a fertility treatment plan included a substance banned by the league’s PED policy.

The Giants are so desperate for help at the position that they brought in several free agent receivers for workouts on Saturday. The list included Kelvin Benjamin, a former Panthers’ first-round pick when Gettleman was the GM in Carolina. Benjamin had a promising rookie season in 2014 with 1,008 receiving yards and nine touchdowns but has been a major disappointment ever since.

“Historically what happens is you have (injury) runs at a position,” Gettleman said Friday – a day before news broke about Tate’s looming suspension. “We started camp with 11 receivers. Right away, Alex Wesley is on (the physically unable to perform list). So now you’re down to 10. Then we decide to make the claim to get [Da’Mari] Scott from Buffalo. You do that and think you’re back up to 12, but you’re really not and now all of a sudden, you’re down to nine. The problem is it really affects the way practice operates. It affects the way Pat [Shurmur] writes the script, Pat and (offensive coordinator) Mike Shula write the offensive script and everything, so it hurts. Then, what happens is you have X amount of reps. Now you have fewer people taking those reps.”

Gettleman is right about teams hitting rough patches because of injuries at certain positions. It happens regularly, even to the best teams in the league. But in this case, it’s happening at a position the Giants were already thin at, especially after the Giants dealt away one of the best receivers in franchise history.

Say what you want about Beckham’s on-field antics and headline-grabbing off the field, including some incendiary comments about the Giants in the latest issue of GQ. But the fact is the Giants have lost their best playmaker at receiver and have done little to make up for Beckham’s absence. The 30-year-old Tate is certainly a reliable inside receiver – as is Shepard, who is deserving of his lucrative new contract. But there is still a gigantic hole left by Beckham’s departure, and there’s no evidence the Giants can effectively fill the void.

There’s already enough pressure on second-year tailback Saquon Barkley, who was spectacular in earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2018. But the Giants don’t want the young running back to burn out because of unfairly heavy burden on offense. Yet without a capable and consistent receiving threat like Beckham, there may not be much choice.

It’s too late for Gettleman to get more help in the draft; he already used his top pick to select quarterback of the future Daniel Jones with the sixth overall pick. And it’s doubtful he can swing a deal for an accomplished veteran receiver.

For all practical purposes, he’s stuck with what he’s got. And what he’s got simply isn’t enough to create an offense that can be substantially better than last year’s group, which was mostly ineffectual in a 5-11 season.

That doesn’t bode well for Manning, nor does it help Jones if the time comes when he’s asked to play.

Gettleman may not want to address any more questions about Beckham, but those questions will persist regardless. Unfortunately for the Giants’ second-year general manager, there aren’t any good answers.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”