Odell Beckham Jr. is looking for an NFL team to play for this season
The Chicago Bears could use a wide receiver right now and Odell Beckham Jr. is still available. Recent injuries to wide receivers Velus Jones Jr., Byron Pringle, and N’Keal Harry could have the team looking for more help before the season.
The Bears were already in need of better talent at wide receiver heading into the training camp. Pro Football Focus ranked the team as having the worst wide receivers in the NFL. Second-year quarterback Justin Fields gave hints that the roster wasn’t great at that position.
Fields had mentioned Beckham specifically as an elite player in an interview with Scott Polacek with Bleacher Report earlier this May. “We don’t have an Odell [Beckham Jr.] or a Cooper Kupp on our team,” Fields said in the interview. Beckham is currently a free agent.
Odell Beckham Jr. could be the elite WR the Bears need
Beckham has the intangibles to make the Bears’ offense better this season. After finally being freed from the leash of the Carolina Panthers’ should-be backup quarterback, Baker Mayfield, the three-time Pro Bowl athlete had major success with the Los Angeles Rams.
Odell Beckham Jr. would have been a serious Super Bowl MVP candidate if not for the ACL injury he sustained before the game. When healthy, he brings an exemplary skill-set that would make Fields life a little easier when releasing the ball downfield. It’s the type of move that would elevate the wide receiver corps to what it had before Allen Robinson left for the Rams.
Fields’ comments earlier in May are important. Fields specifically named Beckham because he holds him in high regard as an elite wide receiver. Pairing Fields with Beckham could give the Bears the benefit of having a quarterback working with someone he respects and feels comfortable learning from on the field. This could pay off for the team’s success this season and in Fields career later on.
Odell Beckham Jr. and other WR free agents have deep injury histories
The potential drawback to Beckham is the same one that’s going to be found with most of the best wide receivers left in free agency. Injuries. Beckham is still rehabbing his ACL and it’s unclear when he’ll be 100 percent. The Bears have it but whether general manager Ryan Poles wants to fork over the cash needed for his services this season is doubtful.
It’s a gamble a team with championship aspirations like the Buffalo Bills might be willing to chance. Beckham has the talent to put elite teams over the top as he did with the Rams last season. But he does come with a long list of previous injuries.
Will Fuller and T.Y Hilton are other intriguing free agent options for the Bears at wide receiver. Like Odell Beckham Jr., Fuller and Hilton also are injury prone. The Bears will need to decide as to what to do with that position soon. After the previous week of injuries at training camp, they’re running out of options.
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