Gettleman: Beckham Deal An “Offer I Couldn’t Refuse”

In the lead up to the NFL Draft, Giants general manager Dave Gettleman addressed the team’s trade of Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns for a first- and third-round pick, and safety Jabrill Peppers, calling it an offer he couldn’t pass up, Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor writes

“It was a business decision,” Gettleman said. “Back in the day when you franchise-tagged a player, if someone came and signed them, that gave you two first-round picks. That’s only happened once in the history of the NFL, and that was Sean Gilbert.

“So basically I had a team call me up that offered me not only two No. 1 picks [Peppers was a first-round draft pick in 2017], but a third-round pick as well. And it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Though the deal appeared too good to pass up to Gettleman, it did leave $16MM in dead money for the Giants, who inked the receiver to a five-year, $95 million contract ($65MM guaranteed) back in August.

It was just the latest move that has drawn the ire of Giants fans. Many were also upset when the team passed on taking Sam Darnold with the No. 2 pick to take Saquon Barkley. Though Barkley impressed as a rookie, the team still has a 38-year-old quarterback in Eli Manning it needs to find a successor for. The plan appears to be to take that signal-caller with one of its first-round picks this Thursday.

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