During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Odell Beckham Jr. opened up about his recent trade to the Cleveland Browns, and he didn’t hold back. OBJ said he believes the Giants had a personal issue with him and that they traded him to Cleveland in hopes to ruin his career.
OBJ says a star player will often get a chance to discuss his preferred trade destinations, but he didn't get that. Instead, he claims that the Giants received better offers and still chose to send him to Cleveland, out of spite, hoping to stain his career.
"This wasn’t no business move," Beckham said. "This was personal. They thought they’d send me here to die." Despite his frustration with the Giants, Beckham didn't absolve himself from all the drama that took place in New York. "I can’t be like, ‘I’ve never done anything wrong,’" Beckham says. But he does blame the New York media for highlighting things like his sideline outbursts or in-game fight with Josh Norman, over his elite production. "They built something that they now wanted to control," Beckham explained. "And there is no need to try to control it.”
Beckham is now playing in Cleveland with his longtime friend, Jarvis Landry. Landry thinks that the addition of Beckham combined with Baker Mayfield's elite potential will be enough to change the league's perception of the Browns. "That stigma, that aura that was always over the Cleveland Browns," Landry told SI. "I can feel it coming off."
Read OBJ’s comments in the cover story right here.