Odell Beckham Jr. being offered less money per year than Sammy Watkins

The New York Giants are likely pretty upset with the Kansas City Chiefs for raising the roof on the wide receiver market so high as they try to work out a deal with OBJ.

Two days ago, Odell Beckham Jr. said he was optimistic that he would be able to work out a long-term contract extension with the New York Giants. That might be a bit more difficult if the Giants are going to play hardball with arguably the most talented wide receiver in the game.

Josina Anderson is reporting that the agent for Beckham, Jr. has actually left New York which means negotiations that were going well are now discontinued indefinitely. Anderson then also tweeted the following:

It’s understandable that the Giants have issues with the amount required to lock in OBJ. The reality is that the Kansas City Chiefs set a new benchmark this offseason for the position when they went after Sammy Watkins. Despite concerns over health, stability and hype, the Chiefs paid handsomely for the wideout with the highest ceiling on the open market this spring—to the tune of 3-years, $48 million. The $16 million a year average made everyone flip and forced teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings to bump their offers to guys like Julio Jones and Stefon Diggs respectively.

Then again, the price of doing business is what it is and you can’t blame the Chiefs for doing what they had to do to secure another offensive weapon as they transition quarterbacks to a first-year starter in Patrick Mahomes. Despite the presence of Tyreek Hill on one side and Kareem Hunt out of the backfield, the Chiefs offense became a shell of itself when Travis Kelce was lost to a concussion in a playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans. It was a frustrating collapse that sidelined a very talented team, so it was not a surprise to see Brett Veach make a move to ensure that one-dimensional offense will never show its face again.

As for the Giants, they also have the capability of being one of the NFL’s top young offenses, but they’re going to have to keep Beckham Jr. happy. While he was injured most of last season, appearing in only 4 games, the reality is OBJ is the best in the business. Even coming off of a frustrating season, no one in the league would even argue otherwise. He’s a clutch player with an uncanny ability to come up with the ball in contested situations and a physical skill set that is second-to-none.

After the 2016 season, OBJ ranked at No. 7 among the NFL’s Top 100 players and he’s made 3 Pro Bowls by the age of 25. He’s on a Hall of Fame trajectory and he’s a hero to the entire Giants fan base. The Chiefs definitely bumped the price up on them (and everyone else), and perhaps in a different test case, you allow the player to walk because you don’t want to pay them through the roof. But the best player at any given position is going to be the asterisk and that’s what the Giants have in place. Pay the man, even as you curse the Chiefs.