Teams are starting to make a push for the postseason as the road to the Super Bowl appears to be wide open, but it’s seemingly unlikely Odell Beckham Jr. will join in on another championship run.
The Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills signed T.Y. Hilton and Cole Beasley, respectively, which likely takes them out of the market for the free-agent wide receiver. The Kansas City Chiefs appear to be set at the position after a mid-season trade for Kadarius Toney, and they activated Mecole Hardman from injured reserve.
Beckham has admitted he doesn’t “see the point” in playing out the rest of the regular season, but contenders would like to see how well the 30-year-old can operate on the field after recovering from a second torn ACL.
Growing factors have made it less and less likely Beckham actually plays the 2022 season.
“Several NFL teams believe Odell Beckham Jr. is leaning toward sitting out the entire 2022 regular season and postseason and signing with his new team at the start of free agency in March,” sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “Executives whose teams have done their homework on Beckham expect him to wait because, as one put it, ‘he’ll be the prize’ of the free agent receiver class.”
As Fowler points out, the 2023 class of free agents projects to be sparse for talent. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nelson Agholor, Jakobi Meyers and Allen Lazard highlight the class, and if Beckham is capable of playing a full season, he easily could secure the multi-year contract he desires.
It’s always possible an injury opens things up, but teams reportedly are not seeing OBJ as a realistic option.
