Grading 7 of Dave Gettleman’s biggest signings, trades as NY Giants GM

Odell Beckham Jr. Trade: C-

This is without a doubt Gettleman’s biggest move during his tenure as the NY Giants GM.

After a 2018 season riddled with controversies both on and off the field the Giants finally decided to trade star receiver Odell Beckham Jr in March of 2019.

With the NY Giants receiving Jabrill Peppers, a 2019 first-round pick (Dexter Lawrence) and a 2019 third-round pick (Oshane Ximines) in return for Beckham. It seemed as if the Giants made out. They improved on a struggling defense while getting rid of a massive salary for a player whose off the field issues they no longer wanted to deal with.

This has been one of the rare occasions in sports where the trade seemingly worked out for neither team.

In Beckham’s first season with the Browns he played all 16 games and tallied 74 receptions for 1,035 yards and 4TD’s.

However, this would be the last time Beckham would look close to his prime. In 2020 Beckham only played 7 games due to a torn ACL. In these 7 games Beckham tallied 23 receptions for 319 yards and 3 TD’s. This was not the Beckham people were used to seeing. During this season Beckham set new career lows for catch percentage at 53.5%, yards per game with 45.6, and receptions per game with 3.3.

So far Beckham has played five games this season. Beckham currently has 16 receptions for 226 yards and 0 TD’s.

This is clearly not the Beckham of old as he also boasts new career lows with a 48.5 catch percentage, yards per game with 45.2, and yards per target in 6.8.  A sad decline for a once exciting star.

However, even with Beckham’s decline, it is not as if the Giants are clear winners in this trade.

Peppers, like Logan Ryan, is a tackling machine. Tallying 76 combined tackles in 11 games in 2019. Alongside 91 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 1 interception in 2020.

However, Pepper struggled mightily in coverage, especially this season. Throughout 6 games this season, Peppers has allowed career highs in almost every defensive stat. Allowing a 90.9% completion percentage, a 124.6 passer rating when targeted, and has already allowed 226 passing yards.

With it seeming more and more likely that Peppers will be traded before the upcoming deadline, one of the biggest pieces of this trade has not worked out.

In this trade the NY Giants received the 17th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. With that pick they selected defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence out of Clemson.

Lawrence has had a very solid career thus far with the Giants. Tallying 38 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 15 QB pressures during his rookie year. In 2020 he improved, putting up 53 combined tackles, 4 sacks, 10 QB hits, and 16 QB pressures.

Dexter Lawrence has had a bit of a slow start to the 2021 season. Only tallying  4 combined tackles throughout the first 3 weeks. However, since week 4 he has put up 16 combined tackles and half a sack. Including a career high 7 combined tackles in week 6 against the Rams.

With the third-round pick the Giants received they selected linebacker Oshane Ximines out of Old Dominion. Ximines looked some what solid in his rookie year, where in 45% of snaps he tallied 25 combined tackles and 4.5 sacks.

However, his production would quickly begin to decline. With Ximines suffering a torn rotator cuff in November of 2020 his sophomore season was cut short

Now in 2021 Ximines has become a non-factor. only playing 36% of snaps and tallying 11 combined tackles in 6 games.

With 2 out of the 3 players the NY Giants received in this trade becoming disappointments, it is hard to give Gettleman anything higher than a C-.