Odell Beckham Jr., New York Jet? If Rex Ryan had gotten his way, it could have happened.
The current Bills coach admitted that he’d tried to trade for the Giants’ star wide receiver in 2014, when questions were being raised about Beckham’s durability as he dealt with ongoing hamstring issues.
Ryan made the remarks while refuting the belief that his current star receiver, Sammy Watkins, is injury-prone.
“Has he missed a little time? Yeah. Big deal,” Ryan said of Watkins, via SI’s Don Banks. “He and everyone else. The [Odell] Beckham kid came out the same year, and he missed how many games with a hamstring issue? Believe me, I was trying to trade for him when he had the hamstring. I was reading the [New York] papers, and I was like, ‘Well, hell, we’ll take him.’ But Sammy’s not even going to miss any time. He’s going to be ready to roll when it matters.”
We’re guessing those efforts did not go very far. The Giants almost certainly weren’t keen on giving up on Beckham so soon, particularly to Ryan’s Jets, but you can’t blame him for trying. The Giants were right to exercise patience with Odell. He played on two bad hamstrings, healed up, and hasn’t really dealt with significant injury problems since, all while becoming one of the best receivers in the game.
