.@SeanPayton told us the #Saints were "close" on signing OBJ, but felt that if the #Rams had an opportunity he knew that's where he'd go pic.twitter.com/XdvzrINnAV
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) November 18, 2021
Where have we heard this line before? New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton confirmed Thursday that his team was in on the Odell Beckham Jr. sweepstakes, but their concerns about his interest in joining the Los Angeles Rams were validated once L.A. entered the race.
“We had several conversations, I would say close,” Payton said on the Dan Patrick Show, when asked how close the Saints got to bringing in Beckham. “The question would be, all along if L.A. had an opportunity I knew that’s where he was going to go. And I don’t think Los Angeles really was an option until mid-way through the process. I would say — fairly close, but only he would be able to answer that.”
The Rams were a late contender in pursuing Beckham, having been leapfrogged by the Detroit Lions when their former backup Josh Reynolds hit the waiver wire. After missing on Reynolds and granting a frustrated DeSean Jackson his release, L.A. pivoted to Beckham; and they turned out to be his dream destination.
And when he was asked if having Drew Brees at quarterback could have swayed Beckham’s mind, Payton was blunt: “I think L.A., I’m meaning with that it matters in the entire scenario,” with Beckham’s off-field considerations for sponsorships and business opportunities. “I think that Los Angeles was important for him, and I get it.”
It seems like the Saints are always in one an available superstar, whether it’s Beckham or Jadeveon Clowney or Ndamukong Suh (and, before that, Josh Norman and Malcolm Butler and Marshawn Lynch, or even Tony Romo) but they’ve rarely been able to seal the deal. Their best acquisitions in free agency or trades with other teams have been widely overlooked options like Drew Brees and Demario Davis, or “role players” like Darren Sproles. Payton loves to go chase a big name, but it’s not often that they’ve recruited those headliners successfully. Time will tell if missing out on Beckham was truly a bad thing, but at least they made the effort.
