The New York Giants shook the NFL world in 2019, when they decided to cut ties with one of the league's biggest stars in Odell Beckham, Jr. Although news of discomfort on both ends started to leak leading up to the trade, OBJ claims that he never saw the move coming.
“I will tell you where I ran into trouble,” Beckham said. “I felt like they never put people around Eli. I know I got a lot of [expletive] when I talked bad on Eli and I never once said a bad thing. If anything, I just speak the truth. The only thing I can look back on and be like ‘Man, I regret saying that’ is saying he’s not the same player even though it’s the truth."
OBJ added that he felt the team never made the effort to build around Eli Manning. “It bothered me because they never built around him and we were just drafting, but we were just drafting and not building an organization and a franchise," he explained. "My frustration grew because it was another 5-11 and 5-11 and we were just never good. Even the year we were 11-5, the defense was holding teams to 10 points a game and we were only good because of the defense. My frustrations grew and I felt like they weren’t growing and I had wanted more.”
He also said that he thought he would never play for anyone but the Giants. "I never thought I would play for another team besides the Giants,” OBJ explained. “I never wanted to win a championship for anybody more than the Giants, bro. It was just such a legendary place. I was very proud to be a part of that organization.”
OBJ then touched on how on-field frustrations bled into the locker room and how organizational changes impacted the way his teammates viewed him. He accused former Giants head coach, Pat Shurmur, of alienating players.
"You know, we got a new coach in there, and I feel like that’s a situation I can be honest about now because people have come out, and it’s like anonymous coaches, but we really know who it was," he said. "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.”
Watch OBJ's full appearance on All Things Covered above.
