The Giants really did it: New York traded Odell Beckham to the Cleveland Browns for the 17th and 95th picks in the 2019 Draft, along with safety Jabrill Peppers. On the surface, this is an insane decision by the Giants front office. Dig a little deeper, as Bill Barnwell did, and your suspicions are confirmed.

A future Hall of Fame wide receiver — which is the trajectory Beckham is on — who is just 26 years old is an invaluable asset. Consider that Don Hutson, Marvin Harrison, Steve Largent, Michael Irvin, Raymond Berry, John Stallworth, Fred Biletnikoff, Lynn Swann, Calvin Johnson, Reggie Wayne, and a host of other great receivers (include a still active Larry Fitzgerald) played their whole careers for one team. Their teams saw an elite talent and never let them go. I expect Julio Jones to join this group or the next one.

Some all-time greats eventually moved on to other teams at the tail ends of their careers, like Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Art Monk, Andre Reed, Isaac Bruce, Steve Smith, Harold Carmichael, Stanley Morgan, Andre Johnson, Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Henry Ellard, Bob Hayes, etc. It’s not unusual for teams to part ways when they think their superstar receiver is outside of his prime years.

Even in cases where some all-time greats left earlier, it still wasn’t that early. Lance Alworth, James Lofton, Terrell Owens, Tommy McDonald, Harlon Hill, Gary Clark, and yes, even Antonio Brown, played all of their 20s with one team.

When you begin looking for superstar wide receivers who switched teams in their 20s, the list gets pretty narrow. It’s noteworthy that a pair of all-time greats were traded before their age 28 season: Randy Moss to the Raiders and Paul Warfield to the Dolphins. I don’t believe that Minnesota or Cleveland fans look back fondly on those deals.

Trading a Hall of Fame caliber wide receiver before his age 27 season? That’s what the Giants appear to be doing in trading Beckham. How’s this for an interesting twist of fate: New York was on the other end of such a swap when the Giants traded for Rams WR Del Shofner, who would continue his success in New York.

Finding great receivers who switched teams at an even younger age is pretty rare, and for the most part, it involves players who weren’t great with their initial team. Hall of Fame wide receivers Elroy Hirsch and Don Maynard switched leagues early into their careers, while Charlie Joiner was traded from Houston to Cincinnati before he broke out. Cris Carter was cut by the Eagles due to drug problems, while Jimmy Smith was cut by the Cowboys before he ever broke out.

Brandon Marshall was 26 when he drove Denver crazy enough to trade him to Miami, John Jefferson was 25 when he went from San Diego to Green Bay, Wes Chandler was 25 when he was traded from New Orleans to San Diego, and Harold Jackson was 23 and had never caught a pass in the NFL when he went from the Rams to the Eagles.

So who are the real comps to Beckham? There are only 5 I can see, if you squint, and look at great wide receivers who made at least 2 Pro Bowls with their original team and switched teams before their age 29 season: John Jefferson, Brandon Marshall, Del Shofner, Randy Moss, and Paul Warfield.

Jefferson was a 3-time Pro Bowler when the Chargers traded him at the age of 25 in connection with a contract dispute. Marshall was 27 and a 2-time Pro Bowler when he was traded to the Dolphins. During his time in Denver, he was in a contract dispute and had significant organizational issues, along with some of the same “locker room problem” labels that are sometimes attached to Beckham. Marshall is a good comparison, although I’d say Beckham is a better player.

Shofner was a superstar with the Rams at ages 24 and 25, but had a forgettable year at age 26, which led to Los Angeles trading him to the Giants. But the Rams didn’t exactly trade him for peanuts: they got the 2nd pick int he ’62 Draft from the Giants, used on QB Roman Gabriel.

And that brings us to Moss and Warfield. The Vikings traded Moss because of attitude issues, if you believe the owner, and in some ways Moss acted in Minnesota the way some people want you to believe Beckham has acted in New York. But Moss really took things too far and alienated much of the players and coaches in Minnesota, including his quarterback. As for Warfield, the Browns desperately wanted a top-3 pick in the 1970 draft to take a quarterback, and shipped Warfield to Miami for the chance to draft Mike Phipps. Cleveland knew how good Warfield was, but took the chance on Phipps becoming a HOF QB. He did not.

And that brings us to Beckham. Only once in a generation do you see a team trade a wide receiver as great as Beckham who is still in the prime of his career. What are the odds that years from now, Giants fans will look back fondly on this trade?