Parties are being thrown in Cleveland while fires are set in New York following the trade of Odell Beckham from the Giants to the Browns on Tuesday night.
The man in the middle of the trade has mixed feelings about the move.
Beckham told NFL Network's Kimberly Jones shortly after the swap went down that leaving New York is "bittersweet, but it is what it is. It's life."
"At this point, I have no idea what to think. I'm trying to process it right now," Beckham told Jones.
The dynamite receiver added that he had a "brief" conversation with GM Dave Gettleman after the trade was agreed to on Tuesday night.
Beckham elaborated on the trade and sounded more excited when the new league year began on March 13 at 4 p.m. ET and the move became official.
"I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to be part of this organization and the direction they are headed," the receiver said in a statement released by the team. "I've already witnessed the energy fans bring in that city having been to some playoff games at [Quicken Loans Arena]. Browns fans deserve a winning football team. This is a fresh start for me and it's going to be great to join Baker [Mayfield] and Jarvis [Landry] on this team. I will always appreciate the opportunity the Giants granted me and I'm thankful to them along with the fans and people in that city for supporting me.
"The Browns are an organization that is moving forward and it's exciting to be a part of something special that is in the process of being built. We have a lot of work ahead of us but I really feel like it's time for the Browns to come together, start winning a lot games and I'm grateful to be a part of that going forward."
OBJ's mixed feelings are natural. He surely liked playing for the Giants, and the spotlight that comes with the Big Apple. On the flip side, he's going from a team on the downward slope, with seemingly no rudder, to the NFL squad streaking upwards at the steepest rate. Beckham goes from Eli Manning to Mayfield. And he gets a reunion with BFF Landry in Cleveland.
The Browns with Beckham, Mayfield, Landry, Myles Garrett, Olivier Vernon (also acquired in a separate trade with New York), Denzel Ward, et al. will see their expectations soar higher than they've been in eons.
Once OBJ has time to process the trade, he could be happy to move from New York to Cleveland -- which is a statement few have made in any football discussion in generations.
