It doesn’t get much more official than that.
We’re a week removed from the Odell Beckham Jr. trade saga, a story that ended with Beckham going to the Cleveland Browns. There were substantial reports that that the San Francisco 49ers were involved, but nothing official until Sunday, when 49ers owner Jed York confirmed in a conversation with Matt Maiocco the 49ers were involved. That’s about as official as you can get.
At the NFL owners meetings, York told Maiocco the 49ers were “Not close enough” to landing Beckham:
“We were definitely in it,” York said. “We were aggressive. But I think (the Giants) wanted different things than we had to offer. I think it would have been very hard for us to just give up a first-round pick and not get a ton in return, other than just the player, knowing that the second pick in the draft is a very, very valuable pick.”
It was already reported the Giants were interested in the second pick of the 2019 NFL Draft and the 49ers were standing their ground, but nothing confirming all the rumors. Beckham ended up going to the Browns for the 17th overall, a third round pick, and safety Jabrill Peppers.
And this might be the end of the trade, or at least what the 49ers were involved with. From the above it appears the Giants wanted the No. 2 overall straight up in exchange for Beckham, which is a trade that would have favored the Giants. Had the Giants offered up some collateral (and maybe they did), perhaps the 49ers would have bit and we’d see a different ending to this story.
The same day, shortly after the Beckham trade, it was announced the 49ers were trading for Kansas City DE/OLB Dee Ford. Had the 49ers pulled of the trade for OBJ, that second trade may not have happened.
If the deal was the second overall pick for OBJ straight up (and it appears that may have been the offer) did the 49ers make the right move?
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