Giants trading Beckham would be an all-time foolish decision

The Giants are often held as the standard-bearers for how an NFL franchise should be run, praised for their consistent ability to plan long-term with patience and for their franchise-wide stability - at least until recently.

However, if New York ultimately decides to trade its best player in Odell Beckham Jr., just as he's entering the prime of his career, they no longer deserve to be mentioned among the league's elite.

It would be, without hyperbole, one of the worst moves in the history of the NFL. But first, let's explore exactly why the Giants are even entertaining the idea of trading an elite talent.

Beckham has produced a Hall of Fame-like start to his career. He had 4,122 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns during his first three seasons and was on pace for a 1,200-yard-plus campaign in 2017 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.

But off the field and on the sidelines, he's been far from the perfect face of the franchise - especially for the old school Giants.

Sideline outbursts, dog-peeing celebrations, suspensions for cheap hits, and, most recently, a video showing Beckham doing a number of possibly questionable things all contributed to the Giants' apparent unease about his character.

Co-owner John Mara was asked about the video Sunday and wasn't able to hide his frustrations with his star player, saying, "I guess my response to that is I'm tired of answering questions about Odell's behavior. He knows what's expected of him and now it's up to him."

That, in turn, seemingly led to Monday's report that Beckham won't step foot on a football field in 2018 without the new contract he's consistently made clear he feels he's earned (no prizes for guessing from where this story leaked).

Beckham is seeking either to be the NFL's highest-paid player, a near-impossible goal considering Kirk Cousins just pushed the ceiling to $30 million per season, or to earn around a reported $20 million annually, a much more realistic target considering his youth, production, and the fact receiver salaries have boomed in recent years.

While the Giants have said over and over that their intention is to sign Beckham to an extension, it appears they have reservations about not only paying a wide receiver low-end quarterback money, but also to a player who they seemingly don't trust to be a franchise-level man.

Now that we've established the Giants' apparent reasoning for reportedly listening to offers for Beckham - including one from the Los Angeles Rams which included their first-round pick - let's pick it apart.

Firstly, there is literally no argument for trading Beckham from an on-field standpoint, so we'll be brief.

The Giants' offense - and quarterback Eli Manning especially - are simply better when Beckham is on the field. Manning has a passer rating close to that of Joe Montana's career average when playing with Beckham, but transforms into essentially Chad Henne without him.

The Giants have hitched their wagon to Manning for at least one more season, and it's ludicrous for them to believe they have a better chance of maximizing the two-time Super Bowl winner's window without Beckham.

Next, even if New York's plan is to instead draft a quarterback with the No. 2 overall pick and move on from Manning in 2019 when his cap savings will be $17 million, then keeping Beckham is still the most logical option.

Paying $20 million to a receiver is a lot more palatable when your starting quarterback is locked into a cheap rookie deal for the foreseeable future. Plus, what better gift could you give to a developing young passer than a game-breaking receiver who's proven himself capable of carrying an offense?

And while some may balk at the prospect of paying a non-quarterback/pass-rusher that amount of money, the NFL clearly is valuing receivers more than ever.

Beckham's draftmate Sammy Watkins, who has one 1,000-yard season on his resume, was just given $16 million per season. Paul Richardson received a contract worth $10 million annually, and he has three fewer career receiving yards than Beckham produced in his rookie campaign alone. Donte Moncrief, another member of the vaunted 2014 draft class, will potentially earn $3 million more than Beckham in 2018 despite never catching more than 64 passes in a season and failing to make a significant impact over the past two seasons.

Julio Jones and Antonio Brown are the most common comparisons to Beckham, both in terms of quality and financial worth. However, Beckham is four years younger than both Jones and Brown - who earn $14.25 million and $17 million a year, respectively - and therefore warrants a deal that reflects his potential as well his production compared to receivers of a similar age.

The jump from Brown's league-leading $17-million contract signed a year ago, up to $20 million might seem steep, but the pass-rusher market saw a similar jump when Von Miller inked a contract in 2016 worth over $2 million more than the next highest-paid player at the position.

Even if the Giants are struggling with how much to value Beckham from a contractual standpoint, it's unlikely they'll be able to receive his true worth on the trade market.

New York is reportedly seeking at least two first-round picks for Beckham, but Adam Schefter of ESPN believes he'll ultimately be traded for a first and a third, or a first and a fourth - essentially what the Minnesota Vikings gave up to acquire average and brittle quarterback Sam Bradford.

If that deal is with the only team reportedly interested, the Rams, the best the Giants can get is Los Angeles' 23rd and 87th picks in this year's draft.

Strangely, last year's 23rd and 87th picks were actually made by the Giants, who took tight end Evan Engram and quarterback Davis Webb, respectively. Engram averages just under $2.7 million per season, while Webb earns just under $900,000.

While it's far from a perfect comparison as the Giants would likely use the picks on their offensive line or a running back, would the equivalents to Engram - who looked like a stud in his rookie season - and Webb - who couldn't even see the field despite the Giants imploding and benching Manning - even come close to an adequate return for a potential Hall of Famer like Beckham?

Essentially, it comes down to Beckham versus, for example, offensive tackle Connor Williams and running back Nick Chubb, $17 million extra a year in cap space, and a massive hole at receiver. And that's even ignoring the fact the Giants gave up an elite player to one of their conference's burgeoning powerhouses.

If that's somehow the limit of what teams will give up for Beckham, which is crazy in itself, the Giants should stifle a laugh and move on, not take what they can get just to get rid of Beckham and his apparent personality issues.

And make no mistake, this is about Beckham's personality. No other explanation holds enough water.

Is Beckham a truly unique case from that standpoint, though? Receivers have always, sometimes rightfully, been viewed as divas, with all-time greats like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss needing to be managed in different ways for them to succeed.

Beckham hasn't been accused of domestic violence and isn't in constant trouble with the police. So why have the Giants taken such a strong opposition to the behavior of an ultra-talented 25-year-old with the world at his feet but who clearly has immaturity issues, rather than, say, kicker Josh Brown?

Brown was re-signed by the Giants in 2016 even after he admitted to being physically abusive to his then-wife. New York only decided to part ways with him after the allegations came to light later that year in an incident that took some serious shine off the team's reputation as one of the NFL's best-run franchises.

Beckham's sidelines outbursts aren't appropriate, but neither is Tom Brady's, but the latter's are accepted because he's able to back it up on the field, and no one ever questions Brady's locker room presence because of them despite playing a position that's deemed to need mature, leader-type qualities.

The Giants are just as at fault for Beckham's issues as he is, as they only really became a serious issue after Tom Coughlin was replaced by the disastrously inexperienced Ben McAdoo, who also clashed with seemingly every defensive back last season before being fired after Week 12.

In the NFL, talent always outweighs every negative factor. That's why players with domestic-violence incidents and DUIs are still given chance after chance to keep their place in the league - and arguably no one in the NFL has more talent than Beckham.

If the Giants ultimately decide a middling return is acceptable for a talent of Beckham's quality, they only have themselves to blame when it's inevitably labeled as one of the NFL's worst-ever moves.