Giants Week 15 Opponent Breakdown | Cleveland Browns
The Giants' decision to trade wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. last offseason looks as though it's been a win for the Giants given the haul it yielded in the form of safety Jabrill Peppers, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and edge rusher Oshane Ximines.
Last year, Beckham gutted out a painful sports hernia injury and still managed to top 1,000 yards receiving, but his touchdown count of four was his lowest total since he recorded three in his injury-shortened 2017 season with the Giants.
This year, Beckham has a chance to return to face the team that hoped he'd be a Giant for life but, who in the end, decided the benefits of trading him outweighed the benefits of letting him play out the lucrative contract extension general manager Dave Gettleman signed off on before the 2018 season.
The game will be Beckham Jr.'s second trip back to the Meadowlands but first against the Giants, after putting up 161 yards and a touchdown against the Jets in Week 2 last year. But for Beckham Jr., there might be a much larger layer of motivation when taking on the Giants in 2020.
Beckham was once the centerpiece of the Giants offense for many years, racking up 5,476 receiving yards and 44 touchdowns in five seasons with the Giants from 2014-18.
But his departure from New York didn't prove to handicap the passing game that much. When he was in the lineup for 12 games in 2018, the Giants receivers amassed 2,612 receiving yards. A year later, without Beckham, the receiving core's production only dropped to 2,598 receiving yards.
That production also came without the $14 million annual price tag the Giants initially gave to Beckham in his contract extension.
With all that said, Beckham is still capable of bringing an elite game-breaking ability, and the Giants will be on the "receiving end" of that ability for the first time in Week 15 this season.
By The Numbers
- Browns lead all-time series 27-22
- All-time postseason series tied at 1-1
- Since 1970 NFL-AFL merger Giants lead series 6-4
- Since 2000 Giants lead series 4-1
- First meeting: October 1, 1950, Giants 6 at Browns 0
- Last meeting: November 27, 2016, Giants 27 at Browns 13
- Largest Giants margin of victory: December 6, 1959, Browns 7 at Giants 48
- Largest Browns margin of victory: December 6, 1953, Giants 14 at Browns 62
Key Matchup: Giants secondary vs Browns receivers
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman was once burned by his decision to release former Carolina Panthers star wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. in 2014 during his time as the Panther's GM.
Smith signed with the Baltimore Ravens that same offseason, then returned to Carolina as an opponent in the 2014 regular season to put up 139 yards and two touchdowns against his former team.
Beckham certainly has the talent to pull his own revenge-performance against the Giants in the vein of Smith, but the Giants' secondary will look to stop that from happening.
Giants fans already know that Beckham can take the top off a defense, but he won't be the only deep threat the secondary will have to account for in Week 15.
Beckham's one-time LSU teammate and fellow Pro-Bowler Jarvis Landry will likely line up on the opposite side. Rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones brings elite size and catching ability to balance out Beckham's and Landry's game-breaking speed in the Browns' receiving corps.
Giants' veteran cornerback James Bradberry, a former Gettleman draft pick in Carolina, will likely be holding down the Giants' number-one corner position this year and will line up against Beckham Jr. for the majority of snaps in Week 15.
It will be Bradberry's second matchup against Beckham, the first coming in a Giants-Panthers game in 2018. In that game, Bradberry had primary coverage for Beckham, who, according to PFF, caught six out of 10 targets for 103 yards, 11 yards after the catch, and one touchdown.
The majority of Beckham's catches in that game came on underneath passes, and he never got behind Bradberry for a deep reception. Bradberry even knocked a pass out of Beckham's hands on a pass to the endzone, finishing with two pass breakups that day against the then-Giants no. 1 receiver.
If Bradberry plays a more aggressive style and lines up pressed against Beckham Jr. this time around, he might be able to limit those underneath catches and throw Beckham off his game early.
As for who might draw Jarvis Landry, that remains to be seen. With less than three weeks left until the start of training camp, cornerback DeAndre Baker's legal issues stemming from a mid-May social gathering in Miramar, Florida, have not yet been resolved. That means that Baker's chances of receiving a commissioner's exemption for the upcoming season and not being eligible to play continue to grow.
That means the Giants will have to figure out who from a group of candidates includes third-year corner Sam Beal, and second-year men Julian Love and Corey Ballentine are the best fit to play opposite of Bradberry.
Corners aside, it will also be interesting to see how the Giants deploy their safeties in keeping the Browns' passing game at bay. New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham did not use safeties in deep coverage often during his time in Miami and instead played them closer to the line of scrimmage on the majority of plays.
It would be surprising if this is the case in 2020 as the Giants are facing some really strong passing games this season, the Browns being one of them.
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