The New York Giants received a lot of pushback from the media and fans for trading Odell Beckham Jr. but former Giants star Tiki Barber thinks it was the right move. Barber thinks that Odell wanted to be traded and he wasn't giving the team any other choice but to move on from him.
“I think Odell wanted to go and [general manager] Dave Gettleman and the New York Giants acquiesced,” Barber said to the New York Post. “He’s in a better place. And I think it may actually be OK for the Giants he’s not here.”
Barber can't quite understand why exactly why Beckham couldn't just be happy but it was clear something was wrong and a change was needed.
“He wasn’t reaching his potential. He felt like he was being constrained, either by the offensive play-calling or whatever it may have been. He wasn’t happy.”
Barber knows that the Giants are going to miss his brand, but this is a team game, and Beckham Jr made it too much about him and less about the Giants.
“I thought it was the right thing [to do]. I don’t know if it was the best thing [to do], because he’s a brand and iconic in ways I don’t know if a Giant player has ever been since [Lawrence Taylor],” said Barber, taking part in the CC Sabathia celebrity softball game at the Stadium. “But football is not about an individual. It’s about a team. And I think the Giants are trying to build a great team right now.”
Barber is right about it being a team game but there is no doubt what type of receiver Beckham Jr is and whoever is the quarterback this year will miss having him as the number one target out wide.