Odell Beckham Jr. is expected to be medically cleared from the torn ACL that ended his first Super Bowl in the second quarter. As the top remaining free agent on the open market, he’ll have his share of suitors among this year’s crop of contenders.
The former All-Pro played a significant role in the Los Angeles Rams’ run to Super Bowl 56 champions. While his impact was inconsistent to wrap up the 2021 regular season, he still scored five touchdowns in eight games to help the Rams clinch the NFC West. He was even better in the playoffs, hauling in 21 catches for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 14 quarters of play and providing a devastating counterpunch to Cooper Kupp in the LA passing game.
Even though he’s now 30 years old and coming off a serious knee injury he remains a potential difference maker. Several teams reportedly have interest in adding the 2014 Rookie of the Year, but he’s made it clear he’s looking for a deal that’s more than a three-month tryout . Let’s take a look at who those teams are — and rank them based on how valuable Beckham would be to their Super Bowl potential in 2022 and beyond.
7
Green Bay Packers
The Packers were once a frontrunner to land Beckham, much like they were in 2021 following his release. But that was when Green Bay was 3-1. Now it’s 3-6 and has, per FiveThirtyEight, a five percent chance to make the playoffs.
That’s not the profile of a Super Bowl contender, but it would make a great story if Beckham was the rising tide that lifted the Packers back to a ‘ship. Aaron Rodgers badly needs wide receivers. Randall Cobb is on injured reserve. Rookies Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs both left Week 9’s loss to the Detroit Lions with injuries. If Beckham arrived and pushed Rodgers back to MVP form and the Packers back to their first Super Bowl since 2010 it’d be the kind of narrative Hall of Fame voters could debate for hours.
6
Los Angeles Rams
The 2022 Rams aren’t nearly the same as the 2021 version. The blocking is terrible, the run game is non-existent and an overtaxed defense isn’t quite as capable of last year’s dizzying highs.
But even at 3-5, Los Angeles still has a hazy-but-reasonable path to the playoffs in a disheveled NFC. Beckham knows the playbook and the quarterback. He loves the head coach enough to crash his wedding. Plus, we have definitive proof that “Los Angeles Ram Odell Beckham” can be a success story.
5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Packers, Rams and Buccaneers are all the same kind of rudderless bad team. Tampa Bay has the best quarterback and the best record (… at 4-5, ew) so it gets the nod.
Tom Brady already has a potent 1-2 combination at the top of his receiving wish list with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But those two have battled minor injuries in 2022 and the depth chart behind them is murky. Here’s what Scotty Miller, the team’s erstwhile WR3, did with the game on the line in Week 9.
Scotty Miller with a chance to take the lead with 2 minutes to play ohhhh noooooooooooooo pic.twitter.com/PYZPhzJfHf
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) November 7, 2022
The NFC South is extremely winnable, and then Beckham would get to roll into the playoffs alongside Tom Brady. You never count out Touchdown Tom, even if his blocking in 2022 is garbage.
4
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs don’t have a top dog wideout to keep safeties from keying in on Beckham, but they do have a deep crop of receivers with big time playmaking skillsets capable of keeping opposing defensive coordinators on their toes. That includes:
- JuJu Smith-Schuster
- Mecole Hardman
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- Kadarius Toney
- Skyy Moore
- and Justin Watson
Beckham would likely rise to the top spot in that rotation, though he wouldn’t be quite the huckleberry to Patrick Mahomes that tight end Travis Kelce is. The veteran wideout works well in freestyle mode on broken plays, tracking his quarterback and putting himself in position for big gains downfield. There are few passers in league history better at extending plays and launching game-changing bombs than Mahomes.
3
New York Giants
The narrative alone makes this a top three destination for Beckham. The Giants have shed the management and coaching that traded away their former first round draft pick and — for the first time since Tom Coughlin was messing with meeting room clocks — appear to have a competent head coach in Brian Daboll.
What New York decidedly does not have is wide receiver depth. While Wan’Dale Robinson has made a splash as a rookie and Darius Slayton has exceeded expectations after nearly being a preseason release, those two and Richie James currently make up the team’s top three wideouts. Daniel Jones is playing measured, winning football despite that lack of talent — one turnover in his last five games! — but it’s clear the Giants need more firepower to turn their surprising 6-2 start into sustained success.
2
Dallas Cowboys
Beckham shined last year with a Rams team that had a clear WR1 atop the depth chart in Cooper Kupp. The lack of double coverage that followed allowed him to excel, particularly in the postseason once Matthew Stafford shook off a sore elbow and realized his potential as a veteran quarterback with high expectations placed upon him.
Dallas can offer a nominal WR1 to draw defenses away in CeeDee Lamb (as well as useful depth thanks to Michael Gallup and Noah Brown). They’ve got a veteran quarterback facing big expectations in Dak Prescott, who signed a $160 million contract extension in 2021. Dallas also offers a potent run game (assuming Tony Pollard gets all the touches he deserves) and swarming defense capable of papering over any hiccups on the offensive side of the ball.
Beckham’s family is filled with native Texans who grew up watching the Cowboys, so Jerry Jones may have more than just money to offer when it comes to negotiations this fall. He reportedly made overtures for Jerry Jeudy and Brandin Cooks at the trade deadline but landed neither. Beckham would be one heck of a consolation prize, even if fitting him under next year’s salary cap would be tricky for an eternally-pressed franchise.
1
Buffalo Bills
If Beckham is going to team up with a top-line wideout and an MVP candidate quarterback, there’s no better place to do it than western New York. Stefon Diggs’ presence means opposing safeties would be loathe to bracket him downfield. Gabe Davis, Isaiah McKenzie and Khalil Shakir provide valuable depth options whose target count may decline thanks to OBJ’s presence, but whose target quality would rise.
Playing in the AFC provides a tougher path back to the Super Bowl, but joining the Bills would pair him with a contender that combines a top three offense with a top three defense. Buffalo has looked like a juggernaut in stretches, and while that magic has worn off at times — like Week 9’s 20-17 loss to the New York Jets — there’s no doubting the team’s overall level of talent.
Buffalo provides the best combination of wide receiver need, competent quarterback play and Super Bowl probability — even if the Cowboys come pretty close. There’s no lock Beckham is going to be a Bill, but playing with Josh Allen, Diggs, and 2021 teammate Von Miller might be the most likely outcome for OBJ in 2022.
