Odell Beckham Jr. says on podcast that Giants never built around Eli Manning
Odell Beckham of the Cleveland Browns prior to playing the Buffalo Bills at FirstEnergy Stadium on November 10, 2019 in Cleveland. Credit: Getty Images/Gregory Shamus
Did you honestly think we would get this close to a Giants-Browns game – 12 days away if you are counting – without hearing from Odell Beckham Jr.?
The wide receiver who was traded from New York to Cleveland a year and a half ago tore his ACL this season and won’t be on the field for what is shaping up to be a contest of two playoff contenders next weekend, but that didn’t stop him from weighing in on his history with his former team.
On the "All Things Covered" podcast with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden, Beckham spoke about his time in New York, his desires as a Giant, and what ultimately drove a wedge between him and the franchise. The podcast tweeted a snippet of the conversation.
"I’m gonna tell you, I never thought I would play for another team besides the Giants," Beckham said in the interview. "I never wanted to win a championship for anybody more than the Giants, bro. It was such a legendary place. I was very proud to be a part of that organization."
So what happened?
"I’m gonna tell you where I ran into trouble," Beckham said. "It was when I felt like we had the pieces. We know that Eli [Manning] is a little older. I’ve been here now, I’ve given you two seasons. I’ve shown you what I’m capable of. I can hoop. And I felt like they never put people around Eli. It bothered me because I felt like they never built around him. And we just kept drafting, we were drafting not like building an organization or the franchise. You know, we were just never … good. I ran into that problem, bro, when I felt like they weren’t growing and evolving as an organization. Like, I wasn’t winning. I hated losing that bad. Great, I was having great seasons. I hated losing. I hated it. I hated it."
It sounds as if Beckham was just as put off by the coaching staff as the front office.
"It just felt like I was coming to the end of a road and I was pushing for something that wasn’t really tangible, bro. And that was where it all, like, went haywire for me. You know, we got a new coach in there [Pat Shurmur] … I felt betrayed in a sense, like this coach tried to turn me against my brothers and my people and was telling the young guys to stay away because I’m not a good person or not a good teammate or role model or this or that."
Beckham still kept some things in reserve regarding his brilliant but brief tenure with the Giants.
"I feel like at the end of my career, I’ll be able to say to everybody the real truth of all the [expletive]," he said. "I’ll come out and tell everybody everything."
Maybe if the Giants and Browns meet in the Super Bowl this year that will help draw him out of his shell.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
