Odell Beckham Jr. says that he’ll always have respect for Giants owner John Mara, but in the moment that he was traded to the Cleveland Browns, he didn’t believe the feeling was mutual.

“My initial reaction was not disappointment … I felt disrespected,” Beckham says in an extensive Q&A with GQ, out Monday.

The Giants have lost 24 of their last 32 games over the past two seasons and have not won a postseason game since Super Bowl XLVI, a fact not lost on Beckham in the moment he was dealt away from the team that drafted him.

“Like, after everything I’ve done for them,” Beckham said. “This is me being honest: This team has not been good for the last six years. Period. Even the year we went to the playoffs and everyone was talking about this and that. And we went there, and I didn’t have a great playoff game. Don’t get me wrong, I had a terrible game. But I left the game with seven targets, and I’m supposed to be your number one receiver. I left the game with seven targets. We lost. They scored 40 points. It’s just all bad. I felt disrespected, because I felt like I was a main reason at keeping that brand alive.”

Beckham, who caught 390 passes for 5,476 yards and 44 touchdowns, credits himself for keeping the Giants relevant over the past five seasons.

“They were getting prime-time games, still, as a 5-and-11 team. Why?” Beckham asked, rhetorically. “Because people want to see the show. You want to see me play. That’s just real rap. I’m not sitting here like, “It’s because of me.” But let’s just be real. That’s why we’re still getting prime-time games. I felt disrespected they weren’t even man enough to even sit me down to my face and tell me what’s going on.”

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According to Beckham, his first contact with Giants head coach Pat Shurmur after the trade, was via text message.

“To be called like that and then be texted by your coach and be like, 'Oh, yeah, I heard the news,’" Beckham said. "Yeah, you heard the news? It happened because of you. The reason I’m gone is because of you. It was just tough because of the way I initially felt. On the other side of it, I was excited about a new start because I had been—honestly, I had been praying to God the season before this season for a change.”

Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL