Will LA Rams enter the Odell Beckham Jr. sweepstakes?

At 1:00 pm PT today, NFL Teams will be able to actively negotiate with former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to play for their team for the remainder of the 2021 NFL season. Of course, that all depends on whether or not the veteran receiver clears waivers.

The 32 NFL teams (well, 31, as the Cleveland Browns will sit this one out) are ready to go, and the latest report is that on 1:00 pm PT on Tuesday, November 9th, those teams can negotiate with former Cleveland Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. Now the question is, which NFL team will do so?

There is a mixed bag of sentiment and expectation over his availability. Some fans love the idea, other fans loathe the idea. Not just among the LA Rams fanbase, but rather among each and every single NFL team.

To say that the guy is polarizing is a bit of an understatement.

Now the big question is, will he clear waivers? Some believe that he won’t, others believe that he will.

After he clears NFL waivers, it’s open season on the guy. And the reported NFL Rumors have it that the LA Rams are on his shortlist of a team he would be willing to sign with.  So the question becomes, do the LA Rams share an interest to have Beckham Jr. sign on to this roster?

Several teams are currently being rumored to be on the hunt for OBJ. Of those reports, the Green Bay Packers rumors seem to be the most credible.

That would mean that the Packers will have another dangerous weapon at their disposal to face the LA Rams when the two teams meet at the end of this month.

Reasons for no

The LA Rams are settled at WR1 with Cooper Kupp and WR2 with Robert Woods. Despite his dropsies in Week 9, there is likely little chance that Van Jefferson will be bumped from his WR3 designation. Would OBJ settle for a WR4 role on this team, even if the Rams agreed to keep him involved in the offense?

Of course, Beckham has not exactly been elite for some time. His completion rate has been in a steady decline since his rookie season, currently at 50 percent so far in 2021. While he has plenty of one-handed circus-like catches from years past, he is no better than a 50/50 shot at catching the ball this year. That’s horrific for a wide receiver with high salary demands.

Reasons for yes

The LA Rams are losing wide receivers at an accelerated pace right now. While the decision to part ways with WR DeSean Jackson was mutual, the Rams have lost both rookie WR Tutu Atwell and rookie WR/TE Jacob Harris for the season.

He ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash. While not breathtakingly fast, the 5-foot-11 198-pound veteran NFL wide receiver is plenty fast to become a kick returner and punt returner for the Rams instantly. He only stopped performing in that role in 2021 and had been a Pro Bowler in 2014-16 while with the New York Giants.

He has been an NFL starter for 84 of the 88 games he has played, putting up 7,062 yards and 51 touchdowns in the past eight seasons. He is good at stretching the field too, typically with the longest catch in a season at 75+ yards.

Rams open roster slot

Yes, he’s suffered recently, but in his words, because he is catching passes from an inferior quarterback. Is that true?  Well, we know that Stafford is not inferior. The LA Rams have an open roster spot, and right now Odell Beckham Jr. wants to join a competitive team.

Finally, the LA Rams players have friends on the Browns’ roster in Troy Hill and John Johnson III, and they all seem to want the guy. If OBJ was the ‘locker room cancer’ that some claim him to be, I doubt that any players would endorse him, let alone outright lobby for him to join the team.

I could go either way on this issue. I know how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers benefitted by adding Antonio Brown to their roster down the stretch, a player who many viewed as that locker room cancer. In the end, he became the difference for the Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl LV.

It’s a risk, like every Rams roster move. Will the LA Rams roll the dice one more time, or fold on this one?  It’s a difficult decision, regardless of how passionate opinions become. Sometimes, teams make roster moves to improve the overall team.

But sometimes, rarely, teams make roster moves to prove to the players already on the roster that the team is trying to win.