Getty Ravens WR Odell Beckham Jr. is excited to be on the same team with a former heated rival.
Star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. officially joined the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, April 13, 2023, when he signed his one-year contract worth up to $18 million.
At his introductory press conference, he expressed his excitement to be back in the AFC North. He spent two and a half seasons with the Cleveland Browns from 2019 until he was granted his release midway through the 2021 season and signed with the eventual Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams.
“I was in the AFC North, I’ve been around Baltimore, got whooped by them plenty of times, I know what kind of team they are,” Beckham Jr. said.
While he had some success against the Ravens in the past, hardly any of it came against his new teammate and fellow three-time Pro Bowler, cornerback Marlon Humphrey. The two had some epic battles on the gridiron every time they matched up with Humphrey getting the better of him more often than not.
According to Pro Football Reference, in the three games in which both players appeared against each other, Beckham was held to an average of just 3 receptions, 28.6 receiving yards, 7.6 targets, and only scored one touchdown which came against Marcus Peters, not Humphrey.
They infamously had an altercation on the field during the 2019 season in which Humphrey appeared to be choking Beckham Jr. who was on his back after a play.
Watch as Marlon Humphrey (#RavensFlock ) choke slams OBJ (#Browns ) and keeps his hands around his throat!
The nine-year veteran said that the two have spoken since the signing that neither of them has any animosity toward the other and that he is excited to compete in what will certainly be highly anticipated 1-on-1 battles in training camp and practices.
“What’s practice going to be like with @marlon_humphrey?”
@obj is excited for those practice battles 😂😂
“I’m going to have to give him a few headbutts and we’re going to have to hug it out,” Beckham Jr. said with a laugh. “We’re on the same team and our goal, I know that for sure, is going to sharpen each other each and every day.”
Humphrey has been a proponent of him joining the team for months and shortly after the initial agreement between Beckham Jr. and the team was reported, he took to Twitter to remind everyone that he was among the first trying to speak it into existence.
“I think we’re both excited about this opportunity,” Beckham Jr. said. “At the end of the day, I don’t have beef with anybody. I don’t have any bad blood or nothing like that. Life is way too short for that.”
Beckham Jr. Already Has Relationship With New OC
In addition to having the opportunity to compete with Humphrey and hopefully catch passes from former league MVP Lamar Jackson, he will be reuniting with first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken who served in the same role during his first season in Cleveland.
He said the two of them had a “great rapport” and “great communication” that year which also happened to be the last time he eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards.
“We had a great relationship in Cleveland… I have nothing but love for him.” OBJ on reuniting with Todd Monken:
“We had a great relationship in Cleveland, to be honest,” he said. “Certain situations just aren’t for people. It’s not anyone’s fault or anything that happens. Life goes that way and things don’t work out the way you want to.”
He recalls having conversations with Monken about how to figure out what was going on with the struggling unit after an offseason or high expectations and how they could “bring everyone together”.
“I’ve got nothing but love for him,” Beckham Jr. said. “I got to watch what he did at Georgia, watch the success he had. (I’m) just excited about the opportunity that’s in front of me.”
After watching the way Monken designed and dialed up plays for the two-time defending national champion Bulldogs the past two years, he knows that whatever lies ahead “should be a lot of fun”.
Head Coach John Harbaugh said that Monken is “already in the lab” scheming up plays and creative ways to utilize Beckham Jr. and Jackson in tandem. They have concepts set in place and believe having the Super Bowl-winning pass catcher will make it “even more fun”.
“Todd is fired up. Todd is excited,” he said. “I’m a little surprised he’s not sitting there right now; he’s probably drawing up plays for Odell and Lamar… I know they’ve talked, and he’s in the laboratory; I’ve seen some of the drawings, so we’ve got some good stuff. We’ll be ready to go.”
Beckham Jr. Looks Forward to Leading Ravens Young WRs
Not only is he the most accomplished player at his position on the roster but at 30 years old, he is also the elder statesman as the oldest member of a youthful and relatively inexperienced group that will get even younger with the expected arrival of a rookie or two via the 2023 NFL Draft.
Beckham Jr. can recall being the youngster in a receiver room after he was drafted No. 12 overall in the first round out of LSU in 2014 by the New York Giants. Even back then, he felt like he “was still kind of the veteran in the room” because of all of his early success and lofty expectations. He is excited to be able to lead this group and hopes they can all learn from each other.
“I’ll be able to teach plenty of things I’ve learned,” he said. “I’m also one of the people who I can always learn from anyone. I can learn from someone way younger than me, way older than me…If you’re not in a place where you can learn and pass on the knowledge, then you’re probably in the wrong place.”
He is joining a group that currently consists of 2021 first-rounder Rashod Bateman who he is close to, two-time Pro Bowl returner and all-purpose weapon Devin Duvernay, 2020 sixth-rounder James Proche who is switching his jersey number to 10 so Beckham can have No. 3, and 2021 fourth rounder Tylan Wallace who has yet to make much of an impact outside of special teams.
His mentorship of Bateman is already underway and dates back to when the two trained together as the former Minnesota Golden Gopher was preparing for the draft three years ago coming out of college.
#Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. and University of Minnesota WR Rashod Bateman trained together and formed a bond as Bateman prepared for the draft. Here’s a pic from Bateman’s Instagram.
General Manager Eric DeCosta expressed that the team still “very strongly” believes in their younger receivers that were already on the roster. However, he admitted that adding a proven veteran at the position was a priority for them this offseason even if it meant making a significant financial investment.
“We still believe very strongly in the Draft, and I am very excited to see our young guys this year; let me say that first and foremost,” DeCosta said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve tried to do that. Sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you don’t, and there are a lot of different factors.”
He went on to say that there are times when they make a better offer but veteran players just feel better about another place, don’t want to live on a certain coast, or desire to play for a particular coach.
“In this case, we found the right person to come here,” DeCosta said. “Odell wanted to be here, we wanted Odell very badly, and we think that this is going to be a great acquisition in the short term and hopefully the long term.”