This may or may not be a popular opinion among Kansas City Chiefs fans, but the team should pass on signing star free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
That’s not to say that OBJ doesn’t have any quality football left; he very well may, but the Kansas City Chiefs should not be the team that tries to find that out.
Odell Beckham Jr. comes with concerns
The last time Beckham was on a professional football field, he caught two passes for 52 receiving yards, and a touchdown in the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Tragically, he suffered a torn ACL in the second quarter in the game. That knee injury is the primary reason why he’s still unsigned 14 months later. In 2020, he tore that same ACL while playing for the Cleveland Browns.
For much of last season, it was rumored that Beckham would join a Super Bowl contender late in the year to boost a team’s Super Bowl hopes, including the Chiefs, but those rumors never turned into anything.
In addition, in late November, Beckham was removed from an American Airlines flight for allegedly “refusing to put on a seat belt” and allegedly “appearing to be coming in and out of consciousness”. That incident did him zero favors when trying to find his next home.
On the field, and outside of injuries, Beckham hasn’t topped 1,000 yards in a regular season since 2019 and has done so just twice in the last six years. Part of that isn’t his fault as the two ACL injuries have been devastating but there are undoubtedly concerns about his health and consistency.
Throughout his NFL career, OBJ has earned a reputation (fair or unfair) for being a bit of a diva. I’ve never met the man, so I don’t how much of what we hear is true, but it does seem like drama in some capacity follows him around.
With all of that said, Beckham had one of the greatest starts to a career that a wide receiver has ever had in American football, but he hasn’t been productive in several seasons. There’s little doubt that he has the talent to be another superweapon for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. He also wouldn’t be that expensive for this season, so Brett Veach could easily make a contract work.
The Chiefs don’t need more question marks at WR
In the end, although I respect the immense talent of Beckham Jr., I don’t feel that he’s the best choice for the Chiefs for supporting Patrick Mahomes. The current wide receiver room is filled with either unproven players, like Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, and Justyn Ross, or inconsistent veterans, such as Marquez Valdes-Scantling. OBJ would just be another question mark on a depth chart filled with them.
In my opinion, the Chiefs would be better served by either signing DeAndre Hopkins, who would be a known commodity with few questions and is also rumored to potentially be released by the Cardinals later this offseason, or drafting a wideout early in the draft who would also give them 4+ years of cost-control. The latter also comes with risks since draft picks are never sure things.
If the Chiefs did opt to sign Beckham to a modest short-term contract, it wouldn’t be a terrible move for the team, but the potential production may not be worth the hassle. Kansas City has been rumored to have an interest in him for a little while, so it wouldn’t be a surprising move if it were to happen.
After trading Tyreek Hill and then subsequently winning the Super Bowl, I made a vow never to doubt Brett Veach again. He’s won two Super Bowls and has assembled a championship-caliber roster every year that he’s been the general manager for an entire offseason. I’ll stand by him for the rest of his tenure in KC, even if he makes a move that I view as slightly questionable, such as signing Odell Beckham Jr.