To say Odell Beckham Jr. is fond of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots would be an understatement.
Beckham on Wednesday heaped quite a bit of praise on the reigning Super Bowl champions ahead of Sunday’s Browns-Patriots matchup at Gillette Stadium. The star wide receiver tabbed Brady as the “GOAT” and admitted catching passes for New England is something he’s previously dreamed about.
These fantasies, obviously, occurred while Beckham still was firmly entrenched in the turmoil in New York. But NBC Sports’ Mike Florio can’t help but wonder if OBJ, who’s only six games into his Cleveland tenure, still is craving a gig in Foxboro.
“It reminded me a little bit of a postgame press conference from Randy Moss when he was playing for the Vikings the second time around,” Florio said Thursday on “Pro Football Talk.” “They lost to the Patriots in Foxboro, Moss laid it on thick about the Patriots and the Vikings cut him the next day. Not that the Browns are going to do that, but if you watch and listen to the full 13 minutes and you pay attention to how many times it comes up, it’s very nonchalant by Beckham. Like, he doesn’t realize it could be a problem by being that lavish in your praise because you have a head coach, you have a quarterback who may be listening and saying, ‘Man, maybe he wants to play in New England.’ I came away from the 13 minutes thinking maybe this guy wants to play in New England.
“…I think that embedded within everything he said yesterday is the unmistakable whiff that he would still like it to happen in the future, especially if the Cleveland experiment continues on its current path of 2-4 through six games and 2-5 staring them in the face because they play the Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday. …When he says, ‘I don’t know what it takes to be like them,’ that tells me he’s yet to experience anything that in his heart and in his mind reminds him of New England. I can’t imagine that there weren’t members of the Browns organization, whether it was coach Freddie Kitchens, quarterback Baker Mayfield, ownership, GM, whoever, who listened to those comments yesterday and said, ‘I don’t think this guy really wants to be here.'”
While exceedingly unlikely, Florio has been around the league long enough to know a Beckham trade to New England can’t entirely be ruled out.
“It’s one thing for Beckham to muse about what New England is like as he gets ready to play them, but he’s gonna go there,” Florio said. “What’s he going to say after the game about the Patriots? I just think this bears watching. The trade window is still open. I don’t think the Browns would let him go at this point. I think they would at least want the package they got for him in the first place so they can say we are where we would have been even if we never acquired him. But man, we’ve seen crazier things happen. Wouldn’t it be crazy if next Tuesday afternoon Odell Beckham Jr. ends up being traded to the Patriots?”
It’s safe to say “crazy” is putting it mildly.
We already know Beckham and Brady will meet either before or after the Week 8 showdown in order for OBJ to give TB12 a rather unique gift. And who knows, maybe some talks of the future will surface as the superstars exchange pleasantries.
