LA Rams: The future of Odell Beckham Jr is uncertain, to OBJ

Even as the LA Rams have emerged from the 2022 NFL Draft, the future for the team is still a bit unknown. But let’s push a pin in that for just a moment. Sometimes it’s easier for fans to focus on their team, and in the process overlook the fact that so many NFL players’ lives are interwoven in that team. Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was about to live his dream. He was playing for ‘all-the-marbles.’  He was wearing the horns for the LA Rams, in the LA Rams home stadium, in front of Rams fans, and he was helping lead the team’s offense to an NFL Championship victory.

But in one horrendous moment, his knee gave way. And then, at the pinnacle of his professional career, it was over. But that was not the worst of it. Oh no. He played like a veteran. Performed like a veteran. Gambled on himself to get under the Rams’ salary cap woes, and won. But in the first half of Super Bowl LVI, his day on that football field was over. He was unable to play any further for the team.

Or, just as suddenly, no longer part of that team when their contract expires. It did, just weeks later. Odell Beckham Jr., hero of the LA Rams’ resurgence to claim the NFL Championship Title, is no longer a member of any football team.

When the LA Rams signed Odell Beckham Jr. to a contract midway through the 2021 NFL Season, there were plenty of uncertainties on both sides of that contract. OBJ assumed the risk, committing to a minimum salary but with the contractual clauses to reward him handsomely if the LA Rams found post-season success.

The Rams did find that success, and OBJ earned another $3 million in the process. But at what cost? To the LA Rams, as with any NFL football team, that is measured in dollars, roster slots, and snap counts. But to the players involved? It’s their health, their careers, their passions, and their dreams.