Getty Free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
The Dallas Cowboys announced that they plan to restart negotiations with free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and the veteran pass-catcher is ready to roll.
Beckham has been hard at work as he continues his rehab from a torn ACL he suffered in last year’s Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. He posted a video from one of his recent workout sessions looking very in shape, with a caption revealing that he feels fresh for the coming season after taking some time off.
“‘Get my shxt together feel like I done took two years off,'” Beckham wrote. “Mann it feels goood to be back workin! All positive vibes and LUVV!”
The post came a few days after the Cowboys expressed a renewed interest in signing Beckham this offseason.
Beckham and the Cowboys flirted for an extended period of time during the season, with owner Jerry Jones at one point making it sound like a signing was imminent. However, the sticking point between the sides ended up being Beckham’s health, with it becoming evident after his visit with the team that he wouldn’t be able to get on the field until the postseason.
While Jones loves his stars, even he came to terms with the fact that Beckham was not going to be able to help them last season.
“Well, I think the big thing is me or whoever has let enough time go as we get toward the end of the season that it’s not realistic to think about having him in any meaningful way for the playoffs,” Jerry Jones said in December. “That’s not dismissing [signing Beckham in] the future, but it is dismissing, for the most part, the reality of him getting in here and helping us in the playoffs. That was a big part of the equation.”
Cowboys Ready to Restart Talks With OBJ
While it didn’t work out last season, the Cowboys appear ready to negotiate with Beckham’s camp again.
“Oh, absolutely,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said this week from the Senior Bowl when asked about the polarizing wide receiver. “We brought Odell Beckham Jr. in for a visit [and] decided he wasn’t ready to play. [But] that’s the way we left it with him. Get ready to play, and then let’s revisit. We obviously had an interest for a reason.”
With the possibility of signing Beckham gone, the Cowboys instead turned to another veteran in T.Y. Hilton to add depth to their wide receiver corps. He managed just 10 catches for 159 yards during his stint in Dallas.
Cowboys Clear They Need More From Receivers
The Cowboys had a clear need at wide receiver heading into last season, trading away Amari Cooper and losing Cedrick Wilson to free agency. CeeDee Lamb was a solid No. 1 — getting named to the Pro Bowl after catching 107 balls for 1,359 yards and nine touchdowns. However, the depth behind him was questionable, with Michael Gallup still recovering from a torn ACL.
“We probably had too much reliance on what Tolbert could do because we were high on him coming out and thought he could immediately be a factor,” Jerry Jones said. “We thought that possibly we could have better results relative to Gallup as far as his rehab and where he is, so I can say that. …We need Tolbert to come on as a young player. We need to keep looking [at receiver].
“Lamb did everything and more that we hoped he would do. When they’re really covering him, we need some guys who have a better chance to get open, and we probably can do some things in the passing game to help Gallup get more involved.”
Cooper was due a lot of money, which led to the trade, but Jerry Jones was still adamant the Cowboys made the right move with him.
“When I look at the salary involved, over $20 million a year, and I look at what we got with that salary to help this team that we wouldn’t have been able to have with this team, had we kept him, I like what we did,” Jones said.