So Odell Beckham will choose his new team soon; apparently he's narrowed it down to Kansas City, Green Bay and New Orleans. The question is whether or not he's actually a difference-making receiver anymore, or if his years of injuries have sapped his explosiveness.
Certainly, Beckham was in a bad situation in Cleveland, in an offense that didn't care much about throwing the ball in general or to wide receivers specifically. Maybe working with Mahomes or Rodgers or whatever the Saints slop out onto the field at quarterback the rest of the way will provide an uptick in his numbers. Whatever the case, he was pretty forgettable since the start of last season in Cleveland.
Beckham has started 13 games over the past two years. In that time, he's averaged just 42 receiving yards. Among all wide receivers to start at least 13 games over that time frame, that's one of the dozen worst figures in the league. Down there with another veteran wideout we've been trashing the last couple of years, A.J. Green, and a couple of Green Bay and Kansas City wideouts, coincidentally. (Data from pro-football-reference.com used in this table.)
WRS RECEIVING YARDS PER GAME, 2020-2021 (13+ STARTS) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | St | Rec | Yds | TD | Y/G |
Davante Adams | 22 | 173 | 2160 | 21 | 98.2 |
Stefon Diggs | 23 | 175 | 2123 | 11 | 88.5 |
Tyreek Hill | 24 | 155 | 2048 | 21 | 85.3 |
Deebo Samuel | 13 | 82 | 1273 | 5 | 84.9 |
Justin Jefferson | 22 | 134 | 2032 | 11 | 84.7 |
Cooper Kupp | 21 | 166 | 1993 | 13 | 83.0 |
Calvin Ridley | 20 | 121 | 1655 | 11 | 82.8 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 24 | 150 | 1893 | 13 | 78.9 |
D.K. Metcalf | 24 | 122 | 1883 | 18 | 78.5 |
D.J. Moore | 23 | 119 | 1870 | 7 | 77.9 |
Chris Godwin | 20 | 115 | 1500 | 11 | 75.0 |
Brandin Cooks | 24 | 138 | 1791 | 8 | 74.6 |
A.J. Brown | 20 | 110 | 1626 | 14 | 73.9 |
Julio Jones | 15 | 72 | 1107 | 3 | 73.8 |
Terry McLaurin | 23 | 130 | 1691 | 8 | 73.5 |
Keenan Allen | 21 | 157 | 1592 | 10 | 72.4 |
Will Fuller | 11 | 57 | 905 | 8 | 69.6 |
Amari Cooper | 23 | 132 | 1646 | 10 | 68.6 |
Tyler Lockett | 24 | 141 | 1633 | 13 | 68.0 |
Corey Davis | 18 | 89 | 1333 | 9 | 66.7 |
Diontae Johnson | 19 | 133 | 1453 | 10 | 66.0 |
Courtland Sutton | 10 | 44 | 654 | 2 | 65.4 |
CeeDee Lamb | 22 | 115 | 1567 | 9 | 65.3 |
Mike Evans | 24 | 109 | 1550 | 21 | 64.6 |
Allen Robinson | 25 | 132 | 1589 | 7 | 63.6 |
Cole Beasley | 15 | 133 | 1413 | 5 | 61.4 |
Adam Thielen | 23 | 119 | 1402 | 21 | 61.0 |
Marquise Brown | 22 | 104 | 1451 | 14 | 60.5 |
Robert Woods | 25 | 135 | 1492 | 10 | 59.7 |
DeVante Parker | 16 | 88 | 1120 | 5 | 58.9 |
Kenny Golladay | 11 | 39 | 648 | 2 | 58.9 |
Tee Higgins | 21 | 102 | 1339 | 8 | 58.2 |
Mike Williams | 18 | 85 | 1331 | 11 | 57.9 |
Sterling Shepard | 17 | 98 | 980 | 4 | 57.6 |
Marvin Jones | 23 | 112 | 1377 | 12 | 57.4 |
Chase Claypool | 12 | 91 | 1306 | 10 | 56.8 |
Emmanuel Sanders | 12 | 89 | 1204 | 9 | 54.7 |
Jerry Jeudy | 15 | 68 | 1036 | 3 | 54.5 |
Michael Pittman Jr. | 17 | 90 | 1161 | 6 | 52.8 |
Tim Patrick | 24 | 85 | 1251 | 10 | 52.1 |
Tyler Boyd | 14 | 117 | 1250 | 6 | 52.1 |
Robby Anderson | 25 | 114 | 1302 | 5 | 52.1 |
Michael Gallup | 15 | 63 | 879 | 5 | 51.7 |
Jarvis Landry | 19 | 91 | 1033 | 3 | 51.7 |
Christian Kirk | 16 | 88 | 1166 | 10 | 50.7 |
DJ Chark | 16 | 60 | 860 | 7 | 50.6 |
Jakobi Meyers | 17 | 105 | 1163 | 0 | 50.6 |
T.Y. Hilton | 17 | 62 | 858 | 5 | 50.5 |
Nelson Agholor | 21 | 70 | 1231 | 10 | 49.2 |
Brandon Aiyuk | 18 | 79 | 978 | 7 | 48.9 |
Sammy Watkins | 14 | 55 | 713 | 2 | 47.5 |
Henry Ruggs III | 19 | 50 | 921 | 4 | 46.1 |
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 19 | 112 | 960 | 9 | 45.7 |
Russell Gage | 10 | 88 | 945 | 5 | 45.0 |
Darnell Mooney | 17 | 97 | 1081 | 6 | 43.2 |
Laviska Shenault Jr. | 17 | 90 | 943 | 5 | 42.9 |
Darius Slayton | 17 | 62 | 941 | 4 | 42.8 |
Odell Beckham Jr. | 13 | 40 | 551 | 3 | 42.4 |
Breshad Perriman | 12 | 30 | 505 | 3 | 42.1 |
A.J. Green | 20 | 76 | 979 | 5 | 40.8 |
Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 15 | 41 | 785 | 7 | 39.3 |
Zach Pascal | 23 | 74 | 948 | 8 | 37.9 |
Mecole Hardman | 15 | 79 | 932 | 5 | 37.3 |
Allen Lazard | 16 | 49 | 655 | 6 | 36.4 |
Josh Reynolds | 13 | 62 | 708 | 2 | 33.7 |
Larry Fitzgerald | 13 | 54 | 409 | 1 | 31.5 |
Jalen Reagor | 19 | 52 | 555 | 3 | 27.8 |
Damiere Byrd | 15 | 51 | 633 | 1 | 25.3 |
Demarcus Robinson | 16 | 58 | 619 | 5 | 24.8 |
Apparently the Packers are offering Beckham the veteran's minimum, so he won't be signing there. Kansas City would make some sense, so they could finally get Mecole Hardman off the field. In New Orleans, you have to think Beckham would run into the same kind of issues he had in Cleveland, with a quarterback that struggles to get him the ball.
Regardless, I think it's debatable whether he'll be a big factor wherever he signs. Even if it's Kansas City, where he might chafe playing third fiddle to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce.
--Andy Richardson