By Jordan Long
Wide receiver Odell Beckham Junior is now a free agent. He cleared waivers and can sign with any team. There are 3 teams he is eyeing, the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, and the Kansas City Chiefs. All of them are in a playoff race.
Green Bay is the team on this list that doesn’t seem like a real fit. The Packers are set at wide receivers with Davante Adams, Randall Cobb, Amari Rodgers, and Allen Lazard. This is already an excellent group of wide receivers. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks for them and spreads the ball around.
OBJ may not see the ball all that much because Rogers targets everybody. The Packers don’t have a lot of cap space right now but it is the most out the 3 at around $6.2 million. Beckham Junior may want more money than that, but the fact of the matter is if he wants to play with a team in a great position to make a playoff run, Green Bay is the spot. They are currently 7-2, the only team above .500 in the NFC North Division.
What makes Green Bay interesting as a landing spot is they are the only team out of the 3 that plays Beckham Junior’s former team, the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland is going to face the Green Bay Packers in week 16.
The Saints and the Chiefs are a better landing spot. New Orleans is without their top wide receiver, Michael Thomas who is out for the year dealing with a separated ankle injury. The Saints had to rely on Deonte Harris, Marquez Callaway, Tre’Quan Smith among others. Harris is their leading wide receiver with 323 yards. Beckham Junior would be the number 1 wide receiver or 2nd wide receiver on the depth chart giving quarterbacks Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill a deep threat the offense has been missing.
The Saints are 5-3, one game back of Tampa Bay in the NFC South division. Adding Beckham could increase their chances of earning a playoff spot even as a Wild Card. The only downside is how much cap space they have left at around $1.5 million. The Saints would have to get creative to sign OBJ.
The Kansas City Chiefs don’t have a strong receiving core. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has two players he can count on to catch the football, one of the fastest receivers in all the NFL, Tyreek Hill, and the top tight end in all of football, Travis Kelce. After that, it isn’t the strongest corps in the NFL.
Mahomes could use another wide receiver to pass the ball to. Beckham Junior is the answer. He is a veteran who may see the football come his way. This would take the pressure off of Hill and Kelce to be the only playmakers on the field. Mahomes would use all of them to gain yards. This one move may improve the Chiefs’ to be in a better playoff position. They are in a tight playoff race in the AFC West Division. They are 5-4, a half-game behind both the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders who are tied for first with a 5-3 record. The Chargers are in first place due to the better division record at 2-0 while the Raiders are 1-1.
Kansas City’s only difficulty with agreeing to a contract with Beckham Junior is their cap space. They don’t have much money to play with. As it stands right now, Kansas City has around $2.476 million in cap space. They would need to move money around to sign Beckham Junior.
Beckham is going to take his time to figure out his next team. He wants to be part of a team that has a shot at the NFL playoffs and making a deep run in the NFL postseason. There may be another team besides the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, and the Kansas City Chiefs who would like to sign him. Time will only tell. Hopefully OBJ is part of a winning team whose goal is to win the Super Bowl this year.
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