The OBJ Free Agency Thread

[Shuie3225]

Earlier in the off-season I thought I understood our strategy with OBJ. No reason to sign him early for more than we're comfortable with, when there are other FA fits out there we might want to sign at CB or OLB. Well now the draft is done, we're stocked up at corner and traded for Troy Hill. We also seem comfortable heading into the year with Hollins/Lewis starting across from Floyd on a SB team (yikes). But okay we have some young kids that might develop. But now that there dont seem to be any impactful FAs left, I don't understand why were are waiting to up our offer to OBJ?

We know Odell wants to be in LA. By all accounts his surgery was great and rehab going well. Why risk letting a different team attract him away? We know GB and KC are interested, probably others as well. The impact he made down the stretch last year cannot be overstated. He was unstoppable in the red zone and barely knew our offense. Not to mention he had to build chemistry with Stafford on the fly. Theres no reason to doubt he will provide that again this year as we head into the latter part of 2022. Also, can you imagine him fully healthy in 2023 after a normal off-season with no rehab.

Im not suggesting giving him some monster deal, but he earned his money to some extent helping us win the SB. We have to show some loyalty and trust there. We have no one left to sign, the Kupp and AD extensions will create more cap space. Stop with the 1-yr incentive based bs offer and give him something slightly better so he doesn't leave for another championship contender. Heading into the 2023 playoffs with Kupp/ARob/OBJ/Higbee/Akers will make this offense unstoppable.

 

[ottoman89]

At this point I don't care how it gets done, I just want it to get done ASAP so I can be relieved.

 

[Merlin]

It's a tough business. I agree they're a lot better with him and if they get him I think they're definitely the NFC favorite. Probably still are, but with him the Rams are a really tough out. I don't think there will be a defense that can stop us barring injuries.

 

[Florida_Ram]

Odell's been posting social media content (entertaining) himself, while he rehabs his second ACL injury on the (same knee) over the last 2 years.

He's a star NFL WR (and he knows it).

Regardless, he doesn't have a team attached to his name and it's probably frustrating him a little bit because his rehab might be ahead of schedule, and he would like some closure prior to the 2022 regular season.

Most of us believe Beckham wants to resign with the Rams, but the Rams front office clearly deliberated after his surgery, and I'm guessing told his agent, (they need to see his rehab progress) before they can discuss real numbers and incentives.


Cameron DaSilva
April 13, 2022

His torn ACL has complicated things, likely sidelining him for half of the 2022 season.

The Rams should know better than anyone exactly the condition of Beckham’s knee because according to Ian Rapoport, it was the Rams’ team doctor who performed the surgery.

The procedure went well, and it actually corrected an issue from a previous surgery Beckham underwent after he tore his ACL the first time.
[sports.yahoo.com]


It's obvious that any of the other teams interested in Beckham's services feel the same way about his value at this stage of his recovery. This is why he's still an unrestricted free agent and not getting any big time offers.

Until teams start inviting him in for a visit (taking a physical) he's going to have to tough it out over the next 2 months or more.

I'm guessing the Rams have a 50/50 chance (or slightly better) of signing OBJ in 2022.

Why not a higher percentage? Because I believe Odell (like his buddy) Von Miller could jump ship if another playoff contender offers him more money than his market value.

I won't be upset if Beckham followed in the footsteps of Von Miller and signs with another top-rated playoff contender for more dollars than the Rams offer him.

 

[dang]

So I believe there is a sequence of events that have already been carefully planned and prioritized by the Rams front office.
#1 Donald wants to get paid/Rams want to lock in Donald for another 4 years. I don’t pretend to know all of the crafty financial maneuvers but I believe this happens after June 1 to help spread the $$$ around.
#2 Kupp loves the Rams snd the Rams love him but to be fair to Donald an extension won’t happen for Kupp until after Donald. I see a significant extension as both want yo keep the marriage going for some time.
#3 the Rams will now have cap room to maneuver and will be closely watching cuts for potential additions but I don’t think they will be in a hurry to sign anyone. They want the ability to trade for need or pick up a disgruntled elite player anxious for a change.
#4 there is no hurry to sign OBJ. He has to work himself through recovery and will not be available until early December. As that date nears snd OBJ becomes a priority over any other moves the Rams may pull the trigger on a multi year deal vs risking losing him. Ootherwise they can sign him to an incentive laden contract for the remainder of the 2022 regular season/playoffs.

 

[Shuie3225]

#4 there is no hurry to sign OBJ. He has to work himself through recovery and will not be available until early December. As that date nears snd OBJ becomes a priority over any other moves the Rams may pull the trigger on a multi year deal vs risking losing him. Ootherwise they can sign him to an incentive laden contract for the remainder of the 2022 regular season/playoffs.

Yes he has to rehab and is still a long ways away from contributing. But I don't necessarily agree that there is no hurry, A few months ago I felt that way, but every week that goes by allows a team to woo him and steal him away. Maybe a team has a WR tear an ACL and decides they want to just pull the trigger on an OBJ deal as an insurance policy for 2nd half of the season? To me it's foolish to just assume he will come back to LA. Yes he wants to be here, but he wants a real offer too. Right now what FAs are available that we might want to sign? My point is earlier in the off-season it made sense to wait and be patient with other potential signings out there. But now what incentive is there to wait? The only thing we risk is losing him. His play speaks for itself, but its also the confidence and energy he brings to our team. All our leaders are kind of quiet guys and idk that bravado is contagious for the offense and something we need.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Value has to meet reality. Beckham may not be able to play at the same level this year. Akers did look quite as good coming back after his Achilles injury. It will take him time to trust his knee. I'm sure the Rams have a number that they think makes sense. But why offer it until they know he's healing on schedule?

 

[So Ram]

Value has to meet reality. Beckham may not be able to play at the same level this year. Akers did look quite as good coming back after his Achilles injury. It will take him time to trust his knee. I'm sure the Rams have a number that they think makes sense. But why offer it until they know he's healing on schedule?

The number is 3 & Cam Akers is owning it nicely right now.

Robinson & Kupp are looking good already. JJ Koski is no OBJ,but it’s nice to see players like him work hard season in season out.It’s his third season & in a weird sense is showing leadership.

I’m always worried about salary cap.Tutu Atwell may or may not have been a mistake,but Ben Sko sure looked ok.What happens with Harris?

Blanton has taken over the 2nd TE spot that Johnny Mundt left behind.

I’ll continue to say OBJ will not be a Ram unles it is for 1 season & it helps his value & both have a chance to win a SuperBowl.

 

[PhillyRam]

Probably waiting to see how much Donald is really willing to take. They are up against the cap again next yr so they have to see where they stand after the Kupp & Donald deals get settled.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I’ll continue to say OBJ will not be a Ram unles it is for 1 season & it helps his value & both have a chance to win a SuperBowl.

I think the tricky point is the number of years on a deal.

Odell will be 30 this year. Does he want a 1yr deal?

I am having a hard time picturing what a multi year deal would look like? I don’t know how we fit that.

 

[RamDino]

As we all know, when your knees are shot, your career is coming to an end. Maybe the Rams are just waiting to see how Beckham comes out of this rehab. I could see the Rams offering him 2 mil this year and 45 mil over 3 years with 30 mil guaranteed. But what if Beckham is not the same as he was prior to this injury? Tough call. In Snead I trust. But good post @Shuie3225 .

 

[Faceplant]

I won't be upset if Beckham followed in the footsteps of Von Miller and signs with another top-rated playoff contender for more dollars than the Rams offer him.

Weird. So you won't be upset if OBJ signs with a team like the Packers and makes the Rams road to another Superbowl that much harder? Not sure how that makes sense. It would certainly upset me...

 

[OregonRamsFan]

Clearly there is plenty we don’t know about the health of Odell and metrics the FO is dealing with. I think it would be a shame to lose OBJ to one of our competitors like GB. He is a fan favorite.

 

[blackbart]

I don’t see how anything with Beckham has changed.

There is no reason to believe he will be able to contribute at all in this point of his recovery.

He earned what he made last year and that has nothing to do with the future. Running a team based on past performance is dumb, especially in his condition.

 

[Corbin]

Because the guys not done rehabbing a torn a lot for the second time? Or is it third time? No use to jump until he’s ready to be worked out and tested to see if he’s going to even hold up part of the season.

 

[Neil039]

If losing OBJ means the Rams have Donald and Kupp signed for the foreseeable future I’m ok with that. Snead makes things happen, even when it feels like the team is spilling its wheels in mud. Then presto good things happen.

 

[Flint]

Considering how generous they were in not pressuring Von and how confident they seemed to be that he would be back it’s impressive that they’ve stayed the course and not had a knee jerk reaction to try and prevent that from happening again.
They have built a good thing in LA, they should take care of AD and Kupp first and then worry about the rest.

 

[rdlkgliders]

We need to finish the deals already on the table. Once we do that we will likely address the OBJ situation.
Optics are important and signing OBJ is a luxury, very beneficial luxury, yeah probably but still we have a pretty deep WR room when we aren't injured. So far our signings have filled holes and will be directly inserted into the starting lineup. Signing another WR before even finishing AD. I think everyone is likely communicating through the process but 3 WR contracts before AD? Not sure that is a good statement to make

 

[Psycho_X]

We don't know what's happening behind the scenes between either party and I wouldn't take Odell's random, vague tweets as a sign of anything specific. Both have expressed wanting to stay together and the Rams have a process. A process that won a Super Bowl... I'll defer to them.

 

[Florida_Ram]

Weird. So you won't be upset if OBJ signs with a team like the Packers and makes the Rams road to another Superbowl that much harder? Not sure how that makes sense. It would certainly upset me...

Of course, I wouldn't want OBJ signing with any NFC playoff contenders.

My point was, I won't be upset at OBJ personally for choosing the team of his choice as a UFA. He's earned the right to sign with any team and hopefully it's the Rams.