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The Kansas City Chiefs were one of a handful of teams that were in the Odell Beckham Jr. sweepstakes, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, but came out as losers when the star wide receiver decided to ink a deal with the Los Angeles Rams.
Odell signed a one-year, $4.25 million deal with Los Angeles, which also allows Beckham to earn some of the money he left behind in Cleveland. Nevertheless, the Rams got Beckham with a very fair deal and one that was affordable for a team like the Chiefs.
So what kind of offer did the defending AFC champions give Odell, who is a 29-year-old receiver that hasn’t registered over 1,100 receiving yards since 2016 or more than seven touchdowns since the same year?
We now know.
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Report: Chiefs Offered Odell Minimum Contract
There were six teams that offered Beckham a contract: Rams, Patriots, Seahawks, Packers, Saints, and Chiefs. Of those six teams, Kansas City and Green Bay gave “minimum” offers to Odell, according to independent reporter Dov Kleiman.
Meanwhile, New England, New Orleans, and Seattle all gave offers a little above minimum.
In the end, Los Angeles had the money, the team, and the locker room that Odell was looking for during his short free-agent stint. The Chiefs — who have a stagnant offense that’s given up a league-high 19 turnovers along with a little over $4 million in cap space, per Spotrac — were left in the dust.
Mathieu on Odell Joining Chiefs
Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu — who played at LSU with Beckham for one year — was asked about the prospect of Beckham joining the defending AFC champions during his press conference on Thursday, November 11.
“I don’t know if I’m necessarily campaigning, but anytime you can add talent to the team, that always benefits and helps the whole team,” Mathieu said when asked how much he has been campaigning for Odell to join the Chiefs. “Obviously, just from a personal perspective, just want him in the best situation possible going forward and hoping that whatever ends up for him, it could bring out the best in him.”
Mathieu and Beckham shared the field together at LSU during the 2011 season. They were drafted to the NFL a year apart, but they have still maintained their friendship over the years.
“I mean, we pretty much talk all the time, back and forth,” Mathieu said of his communication with Odell. “Rarely is it ever about football, but nah, we haven’t really spoke on [Beckham joining Kansas City].”
The Chiefs have now missed out on Juju Smith-Schuster, DeSean Jackson, and Beckham since the end of the 2020-21 season. While a lack of enthusiasm from the locker room to accept outside help and coerce high-profile free agents to the team could be the issue, the struggles of the 5-4 Chiefs could also be why some of the free-agent pass-catchers went elsewhere with their talents.
With Beckham’s services being utilized elsewhere, Kansas City will continue to rely on guys like Mecole Hardman (38 receptions, 372 yards, one touchdown, five fumbles) and Josh Gordon (four targets, one reception, 11 yards) to eat most of the targets after Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are fed.
Hopefully, who they have is enough to kickstart a Chiefs offense that has been stagnant for a better part of the season.