Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense has been cruising, and the team added another weapon today when they signed Odell Beckham Jr. to a one-year deal. Predictably, Stafford is excited to see OBJ join a depth chart that already features Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods.
“I’ve played with a bunch of good (receivers) in my career, and he’s up there,” Stafford said (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com). “He’s a talented guy. It’s one of those things where everybody on our team carves out their role. They do a great job of figuring out what that role is going to be and going out there and proving it — both on the practice field and in games — and then getting those opportunities. I know he’ll do the same. There’s a lot of time between now and that. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re on the same page, go out there and play ball.”
While Stafford and the Rams won the Beckham sweepstakes, a few teams were left empty handed. That included the Seahawks and Russell Wilson, who wished the wideout well but noted that his squad already has plenty of capable receivers on the depth chart.
“First of all, with Odell, he’s an unbelievable talent, a world class, generational type of talent,” Wilson said (via Mike Florio of PFT). “For our organization, we are always looking for ways to compete and find ways to win, but we have some great guys already. We have some of the best guys in the world, so to have the possibility of adding another amazing talent would be amazing. If not, we are still ready to go, hopefully all of the way, and that’s been our focus. He’s a tremendous talent.”
Some more notes following OBJ’s decision to join the Rams:
- NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has details on OBJ’s contract (on Twitter). Beckham Jr. got a one-year, $4.25MM deal that includes a $500K signing bonus and $750K for the rest of the season. The other $3MM is based on team-based incentives, so the wideout will get a nice payout if the team makes a Super Bowl run. This also means that OBJ could end up earning more with his new team than he was due from the Browns.
- The Rams came in late to the bidding process, and OBJ was ultimately enticed by the team’s passing attack. “We came in a bit late —but we gave him best shot,” a team source told ESPN’s Dianna Russini (Twitter link). “Sold great QB. 65% pass. Single coverage.” Another Rams source told Russini that the team believed they “needed to add one more piece” to their receivers depth chart, with the OBJ signing allowing them to basically rotate four players for three spots.
- Albert Breer tweets more details on the Rams pursuit, noting that the Rams initially told the wideout that they didn’t have a lot to spend. However, the player’s camp “encouraged” the organization to stay involved. Meanwhile, Yahoo’s Charles Robinson tweets that the Rams had interest in acquiring OBJ in 2018 when the Giants put him on the trade block.
- For failed pursuits: Chiefs coach Andy Reid made a pitch to Beckham Jr., per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (on Twitter). The 49ers also failed in their pursuit, with GM John Lynch acknowledging that the team’s underwhelming record probably didn’t make them a legit suitor…although OBJ apparently did have past interest in joining San Francisco. “I don’t think close,” Lynch responded when asked how close the organization came to signing OBJ (via Can Inman of the San Jose Mercury on Twitter). “To be blunt some of that, you have to earn the right … He’s been fond of our place. He came up to me in [2018] pregame and said “get me here, get me here.”
Hey Ben:
Russell Wilson must be transitioning to the position of Wide Receiver to prolong his career ??
Rams sold him on a “great QB”. Hahahahahahaha.
Perhaps you should watch football sometime, this year Stafford is easily a top 5 qb
kinda helps having that team around him. you really think there arent at least five other QBs that could have that team where it is now given the overall talent on that roster?
Dark side is a bitter hater. Comparing lions Rams is hilarious. Stafford guided bad lions teams away from the near bottom now look that he is gone. Rams were 10-6 last year and now stand at 7-2. Stafford is an upgrade even if your to blind to see it.
hater? what reason do I have to hate the Rams?
Hey darkside Goff had pretty much the same team and we saw how good he did
they went to a Super Bowl with Goff but okay
Have you ever watched Stafford play?
Yes I have when he has talent he’s amazing. He had nothing except megatron a few years in Detroit
i dont see an issue. if you think he’s causing issues than you cut him, that simple.
Think you forgot the word when. “when he’s causing issues”
Quiet guys, comments will get closed just like in mother Russia.
lol 49ers. you had lynch do the recruiting? that’s funny. ha can’t even assess good talent if he fell on his lap. with the no. 3 pick, san fran picks kaepernick 2.0. with shanahan as your coach. news alert: mike singletary has a better record than shanahan does
I wouldn’t say that Lynch is awful at evaluating talent. Obviously that pick was made for Shanahan. Shanahan has a lot of say in picking players, which is the 9ers tend to select offensive players who fit a certain mold.
So what is obj , o Bj’s dad and lbj going to say when he’s not getting the ball? He’s third wr in at best
They’ll make up new #FreeOdell shirts
do the Rams not have to follow the salary cap? sarcasm of course, i am baffled how they can just keep adding talent with no draft picks and no salary cap room.
The Rams have converted $2.475M of TE Tyler Higbee’s base salary into a signing bonus, creating $1.65M in cap space. They now have just over $2 million in cap space.
1:09 PM · Sep 9, 2021
signed him for 4.2 mil, with 1mm in bonuses, and another 3 mil in incentives.
I have a feeling the Rams are found to regret this move.
I get playing in LA but, Rodgers is the better QB by a long ways!! And to play alongside DaVontae Adams.