Well this is tough, even if it wasn’t unexpected. Multiple reports on Thursday confirmed that free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will sign a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Rams, adding serious firepower to one of the league’s strongest offenses. The former Cleveland Browns and New York Giants Pro Bowler took his time making a decision in his first experience with free agency, and now he’s landed with a Super Bowl contender.
It’s a tough break for New Orleans Saints fans, many of whom were banking on Beckham to return to his hometown team and potentially save their season. The Saints are running dangerously thin at receiver with All-Pro return man Deonte Harris leading the team at a clip of 46.1 receiving yards per game, and he could be suspended for three games whenever the NFL gets around to addressing his offseason DUI arrest (for which he was recently sentenced to a year of probation).
The Saints were in on Beckham from the jump, having attempted to trade for him before the annual NFL deadline. But the allure of Super Bowl-contending rosters with entrenched superstar quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, and apparently Matthew Stafford was too good to pass up. So Beckham will head out west.
And the Saints have to hope that Harris, Marquez Callaway, Tre’Quan Smith, and the rest of the Michael Thomas-less receiving corps can help them limp into the playoffs. They’ve failed to address the position for years, and now it’s caught up to them.
