Getty The Patriots offered Odell Beckham a contract a little more than the veteran's minimum.
The New England Patriots‘ pitch to Odell Beckham Jr. has been revealed.
According to Dov Kleiman, an independent NFL reporter, the Patriots offered a contract to Beckham a little bit above the minimum. That offer correlated with the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints’ offers. It was slightly better than the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs’ offers of the veteran’s minimum (which is roughly $1.075 million for an eighth-year player).
Beckham ultimately ended up signing a deal with the Los Angeles Rams.
“In addition to the #Rams that signed him, the Patriots, Seahawks, Packers, Saints and Chiefs all made contract offers for then free-agent WR Odell Beckham,” says Kleiman. “All similar offers, GB and KC were minimum offers. SEA, NE and NO were a little above minimum. LAR won out at the end.”
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Why Beckham Didn’t Sign With Patriots
There were a number of teams involved in the Beckham sweepstakes — including the Pittsburgh Steelers, who made a late run for the receiver towards the end — but the Rams’ incentivized contract offer ultimately won out.
Beckham’s contract with the Rams is a one-year deal that contains a $750,000 base salary and a $500,000 signing bonus. However, there’s $3 million of incentives which can bring the full value of the deal to $4.25 million.
At the time of his signing, Beckham was projected to be the Rams’ No. 3 wide receiver. Obviously, that has now changed with Robert Woods’ ACL injury. However, his contract — and his role in the Rams’ offense — indicate where Beckham’s priorities are.
With the Patriots, Beckham would have immediately projected as the team’s top receiver. However, it would have also happened with a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones with less contract incentives.
The allure of playing for more money with the possibility of winning a Super Bowl as a secondary option appears to have been a bigger sell than lifting a playoff contender as the top option.
Patriots Gain Momentum in Playoff Race Following Win
As the Patriots bludgeoned the Cleveland Browns in a 45-7 drubbing that further cemented New England as a playoff contender, head coach Bill Belichick had the perfect description for the team’s victory.
It was a really “great day” for them, said Belichick.
“Thankfully we did our part and I thought the team really played well today,” Belichick said on Sunday, November 14 following the game. “There were so many outstanding plays and players and the preparation we had this week, really you can put everybody and talk about just about everybody in there. Long touchdown drives. You know, turnovers, competitive plays in the kicking game. Just kind of big plays after big plays from so many different people.”
While playing a team that is contention with them for a wild card spot in the AFC playoffs, the Patriots outplayed the Browns in every facet of the game.
New England out-gained Cleveland 452-to-217 in the total yardage department, averaged 7.3 yards per play to the Browns’ 3.7 average and rushed for 184 yards in comparison to Cleveland’s 99 rushing yards.
Most importantly, the Patriots not only gained the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Browns by virtue of their victory, they moved to 6-4. In other words, they’re essentially two games ahead of Cleveland in the standings and entrenched in the No. 6 spot in the playoff race.
Definitely a “great day,” indeed.