Twists keep coming in the Cowboys’ Odell Beckham Jr. saga. Days after proclaiming the free agent wide receiver would join the Cowboys, Jerry Jones is backing off.
This lengthy courtship has gone from the Cowboys being the runaway favorites to rumblings of OBJ’s health scuttling a deal to Jones being OK with Beckham’s playoffs-only plan to now the owner indicating time is slipping away regarding a deal.
“I don’t I don’t have an assessment of that,” Jones said during his latest 105.3 The Fan appearance regarding a potential Beckham deal (via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill). “But as of this morning, we don’t have anything but I don’t I don’t have an assessment. The reality is though that time is moving on down the road relative to being relative to playing in the playoffs. And so every day diminishes our chances of going forward.”
Despite Jones’ comments last week, CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson adds (via Twitter) no deal was imminent at that point and nothing is believed to be in the works early this week. While we have heard next to nothing on Beckham and the Bills or Giants, it is safe to still call the Cowboys the favorites. But this will-they/won’t-they drama is now late in its second month.
The Rams led the way on the OBJ front for months, but their incentive-laden offer and on-field struggles took them out of the mix. The Cowboys did not surface as a team to watch until shortly after failing to acquire Brandin Cooks and Jerry Jeudy at the trade deadline. Nearly two months have passed since the Cowboys zoomed onto the Beckham radar, but the 30-year-old pass catcher’s injury timetable continues to be pushed back. Long thought to be ready to play by December, Beckham has since indicated hopes of signing with a team ahead of the playoffs for the purposes of ramping up toward a postseason return.
The Cowboys boast a deeper receiver situation than they did to start this season. Despite third-round rookie Jalen Tolbert failing to carve out playing time, Dallas has seen Michael Gallup regain some of his pre-ACL-tear form and Noah Brown enjoy his best season yet. James Washington has debuted, and T.Y. Hilton is now on the team. The 10-year Colt has not made his Cowboys debut yet, however. Beckham seems to still have a path to join this contingent, but his price point — once thought to be around $20MM AAV on a multiyear deal — certainly has impacted negotiations as well. Ten months after the former Giants, Browns and Rams receiver suffered his second ACL tear, the wait continues.
You’d think the team owner would know better then to essentially announce a done deal prematurely. Now he just looks stupid.
Jerrah has actually looked stupid for almost a quarter century now.
Exactly. Jones has been assiduously training for these moments every week since he fired Jimmy Johnson twenty eight years ago.
How many articles does this make now about Odell and he still isn’t signed by any team?
Currently, it’s up to 4328 and climbing…
All of this constant updates about a player who isn’t even gonna play this year.
So, I’m wondering based on published books and facts otherwise maybe referenced on The Ticket, is it possible that Jerry took Odell for a ride to 30,000 and the deal wasn’t consummated?
Maybe Jerrah has just been too busy getting his son Spaulding (Stephen) a hamburger and hotdog in the clubhouse to work out an offer.
Jerry Jones is always so keen to say something groundbreaking, he forgets to check if it’s true or not
Attitude problem knee problems…. no thank you