Rams' Odell Beckham Jr. almost signed for another team
As Odell Beckham Jr. prepares to play in his first Super Bowl, the iconic wide receiver explains how he almost signed for another team in the league.
One of the league's most recognizable wide receivers - not to mention talented - is about to play in his first Super Bowl, but it almost never came to be.
Odell Beckham Jr. almost signed for another team
When the Los Angeles Rams step onto the field this Sunday for their Super Bowl showdown against the Cincinnati Bengals, Odell Beckham Jr. will be playing in his very first Super Bowl. The interesting thing, however, is that it almost didn't happen. That's right! During Beckham's short stint as a free agent, he almost signed a contract with another team. Indeed, when Beckham was cut by the Browns in November, there was more than one team that approached him for his services. On Monday Beckham Beckham stated that among those teams were the New Orleans Saints.
"I was close, very close," Beckham said of signing in New Orleans. "It just didn't feel like the right time. Right place, wrong time." Of course Beckham was probably referring to the Saints' quarterback situation, meaning that at the time the Saints had just lost their star QB Jameis Winston, to a knee injury that would end his season.
The Patriots also wanted OBJ
Beckham also went on to discuss the approach of the New England Patriots. According to Beckham, the Patriots wanted him bad enough that head coach Bill Belichick made a personal call to the receiver himself. "I don't think I joked with him on the phone," Beckham said, "But I was like, if this was three years ago, it would have been ideal. Because Tom [Brady] is one of the - he's one of my favorites." Beckham admitted that Belichick's call alone was almost too much to ignore.
"For a guy, coach like Bill Belichick, who I've admired for years and I've seen and just always was like, 'Man, one day, I'm gonna play for Bill Belichick.' For him to call me, to be able to just sit down on the phone with him and talk football, I mean, what more could you ask for?" Beckham said. "So, I was very close. That was one of the teams that was in there. But I felt like [Los Angeles] was home." Finally Beckham signed with the Rams and the rest is history, or perhaps history is about to be made as he and his team are within touching distance of a Super Bowl title. For his part OBJ has quite frankly been on fire of late. Averaging nearly 80 receiving yards per game, the WR has been key to the Rams march to the Super Bowl. The only thing that remains to be seen, is can OBJ and his Rams do it one more time?