CLEVELAND — Last March, the Cleveland Browns made one of the biggest trades in recent football history, acquiring Odell Beckham Jr. from the New York Giants.
But according to the star wide receiver, that deal almost never happened, as he had contemplated retirement just two years earlier.
Speaking during a roundtable posted his YouTube channel that featured fellow NFL stars Cam Newton and Todd Gurley, as well as former teammate Victor Cruz, Beckham opened up about the fractured ankle that limited his 2017 season to just four games. In doing so, the 3-time Pro Bowl wide receiver revealed that he had actually contemplated retiring due to the frustration of the injury, before ultimately returning in 2018.
"I said this in college, I said, 'I fear the day that they make this game a business and not what I love,'" Beckham said. "And when I [saw] that for the first time after breaking my ankle, like, I thought about not playing [any]more. Like, this is not it for me anymore because they've ruined the game of football for me a little bit."
According to Beckham, it was the support of his fans -- particularly the younger ones -- who got him through the situation.
"When I be on the sideline, and that little kid is, 'Do the whip dance!'" Beckham said, "like, that s--t is what fueled me. That's what fueled me. And that's what makes me -- hopefully they give some more time because I'm coming back from some serious injuries. I'm trying to get fully healthy, because I'm trying to kill."
Those new injuries Beckham is referring to include the sports hernia injury that hampered him throughout his first season with the Browns and required offseason surgery. After posting the least productive season of his career in 2019 -- aside from the 2017 campaign -- the 2014 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year is intent on bouncing back with the Browns in a big way and has even brought back his signature hairstyle in an effort to display his new approach.
"I'm trying to kill. Like, that's it," Beckham said. "That's why the blonde is back. There's nothing you could tell me."