Odell Beckham did in fact tear his ACL in the Super Bowl, a tough blow to a guy entering free agency. He's said he wants to return to the Rams, and this will certainly keep his asking price down. Imagining him being on the field in an NFL game 7 months from now is pretty optimistic.
Beckham's status is just one of the significant questions facing the Super Bowl champs, who can expect upheaval also at running back (Sony Michel a free agent, Cam Akers a playoff disappointment) and with several older players either contemplating retirement (Andrew Whitworth, Aaron Donald) or hitting free agency (Von Miller). For fantasy purposes, the wide receiver situation joins running back as one of the two most interesting ones.
Although Beckham didn't make it through the entire Super Bowl, his early touchdown was a key play, and his second half of the season with the team -- which aligned perfectly with the loss of Robert Woods to a torn ACL of his own -- was critical to Los Angeles even getting there. Had they needed to rely on Van Jefferson as their No. 2 in those games, a Lombardi Trophy would look a lot less likely.
Jefferson had plenty of opportunity, but it would be hard for anyone to say he made the most of it. Among Rams wideouts last season, he was the least effective in terms of hauling in passes thrown his way. One of the least effective in the NFL, actually, among all wide receivers with at least 60 targets during the season.
Some of that is based heavily on the routes those guys are running (Rondale Moore ran a lot of routes around the line of scrimmage while Robby Anderson ran a lot of fly patterns), and some is on the accuracy of the quarterback (also a negative for Anderson, as well as Kenny Golladay). But those catch rates are a whole lot better for not only Cooper Kupp but also Woods and Beckham (with the Rams) than for Jefferson.
Table shows all wide receivers with at least 60 targets last year. Beckham's numbers are divided between his work with the Rams (middle of the pack) and Browns (awful).
| WIDE RECEIVER CATCH RATES, 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Rate |
| Rondale Moore | 64 | 54 | 435 | 8.1 | 1 | 84.4% |
| Hunter Renfrow | 128 | 103 | 1038 | 10.1 | 9 | 80.5% |
| Kendrick Bourne | 70 | 55 | 800 | 14.6 | 5 | 78.6% |
| Chris Godwin | 127 | 98 | 1103 | 11.3 | 5 | 77.2% |
| Cooper Kupp | 191 | 145 | 1947 | 13.4 | 16 | 75.9% |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | 119 | 90 | 912 | 10.1 | 5 | 75.6% |
| Christian Kirk | 103 | 77 | 982 | 12.8 | 5 | 74.8% |
| Jaylen Waddle | 140 | 104 | 1015 | 9.8 | 6 | 74.3% |
| Cedrick Wilson | 61 | 45 | 602 | 13.4 | 6 | 73.8% |
| Cole Beasley | 112 | 82 | 693 | 8.5 | 1 | 73.2% |
| Davante Adams | 169 | 123 | 1553 | 12.6 | 11 | 72.8% |
| Jamison Crowder | 71 | 51 | 447 | 8.8 | 2 | 71.8% |
| Tyler Boyd | 94 | 67 | 828 | 12.4 | 5 | 71.3% |
| Mecole Hardman | 83 | 59 | 693 | 11.8 | 2 | 71.1% |
| Braxton Berrios | 65 | 46 | 431 | 9.4 | 2 | 70.8% |
| Adam Thielen | 95 | 67 | 726 | 10.8 | 10 | 70.5% |
| Russell Gage | 94 | 66 | 770 | 11.7 | 4 | 70.2% |
| Byron Pringle | 60 | 42 | 568 | 13.5 | 5 | 70.0% |
| Tyreek Hill | 159 | 111 | 1239 | 11.2 | 9 | 69.8% |
| Quez Watkins | 62 | 43 | 647 | 15.1 | 1 | 69.4% |
| Tyler Lockett | 107 | 73 | 1175 | 16.1 | 8 | 68.2% |
| Michael Pittman | 129 | 88 | 1082 | 12.3 | 6 | 68.2% |
| Antonio Brown | 62 | 42 | 545 | 13.0 | 4 | 67.7% |
| Rashod Bateman | 68 | 46 | 515 | 11.2 | 1 | 67.6% |
| Kalif Raymond | 71 | 48 | 576 | 12.0 | 4 | 67.6% |
| Keenan Allen | 157 | 106 | 1138 | 10.7 | 6 | 67.5% |
| Tee Higgins | 110 | 74 | 1091 | 14.7 | 6 | 67.3% |
| Brandin Cooks | 134 | 90 | 1037 | 11.5 | 6 | 67.2% |
| Zay Jones | 70 | 47 | 546 | 11.6 | 1 | 67.1% |
| Brandon Aiyuk | 84 | 56 | 826 | 14.8 | 5 | 66.7% |
| Allen Lazard | 60 | 40 | 513 | 12.8 | 8 | 66.7% |
| Adam Humphries | 62 | 41 | 383 | 9.3 | 0 | 66.1% |
| Jakobi Meyers | 126 | 83 | 866 | 10.4 | 2 | 65.9% |
| CeeDee Lamb | 120 | 79 | 1102 | 14.0 | 6 | 65.8% |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 64 | 42 | 572 | 13.6 | 8 | 65.6% |
| Amari Cooper | 104 | 68 | 865 | 12.7 | 8 | 65.4% |
| Robert Woods | 69 | 45 | 556 | 12.4 | 4 | 65.2% |
| Mike Evans | 114 | 74 | 1035 | 14.0 | 14 | 64.9% |
| Justin Jefferson | 167 | 108 | 1616 | 15.0 | 10 | 64.7% |
| Deebo Samuel | 121 | 77 | 1405 | 18.3 | 6 | 63.6% |
| Diontae Johnson | 169 | 107 | 1161 | 10.9 | 8 | 63.3% |
| JaMarr Chase | 128 | 81 | 1455 | 18.0 | 13 | 63.3% |
| Laviska Shenault | 100 | 63 | 619 | 9.8 | 0 | 63.0% |
| Odell Beckham (LAR) | 43 | 27 | 305 | 11.3 | 5 | 62.8% |
| Stefon Diggs | 164 | 103 | 1225 | 11.9 | 10 | 62.8% |
| Tim Patrick | 85 | 53 | 734 | 13.9 | 5 | 62.4% |
| Marquise Brown | 146 | 91 | 1008 | 11.1 | 6 | 62.3% |
| DeVonta Smith | 104 | 64 | 916 | 14.3 | 5 | 61.5% |
| K.J. Osborn | 82 | 50 | 655 | 13.1 | 7 | 61.0% |
| Marvin Jones | 120 | 73 | 832 | 11.4 | 4 | 60.8% |
| A.J. Brown | 105 | 63 | 869 | 13.8 | 5 | 60.0% |
| Jarvis Landry | 87 | 52 | 570 | 11.0 | 2 | 59.8% |
| Terry McLaurin | 130 | 77 | 1053 | 13.7 | 5 | 59.2% |
| Courtland Sutton | 98 | 58 | 776 | 13.4 | 2 | 59.2% |
| Ray-Ray McCloud | 66 | 39 | 277 | 7.1 | 0 | 59.1% |
| Mike Williams | 129 | 76 | 1146 | 15.1 | 9 | 58.9% |
| A.J. Green | 92 | 54 | 848 | 15.7 | 3 | 58.7% |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 72 | 42 | 626 | 14.9 | 4 | 58.3% |
| DK Metcalf | 129 | 75 | 967 | 12.9 | 12 | 58.1% |
| Darnell Mooney | 140 | 81 | 1055 | 13.0 | 4 | 57.9% |
| Nelson Agholor | 64 | 37 | 473 | 12.8 | 3 | 57.8% |
| Allen Robinson | 66 | 38 | 410 | 10.8 | 1 | 57.6% |
| DJ Moore | 163 | 93 | 1157 | 12.4 | 4 | 57.1% |
| Michael Gallup | 62 | 35 | 445 | 12.7 | 2 | 56.5% |
| Chase Claypool | 105 | 59 | 860 | 14.6 | 2 | 56.2% |
| Van Jefferson | 89 | 50 | 802 | 16.0 | 6 | 56.2% |
| Elijah Moore | 77 | 43 | 538 | 12.5 | 5 | 55.8% |
| Gabriel Davis | 63 | 35 | 549 | 15.7 | 6 | 55.6% |
| Zach Pascal | 69 | 38 | 384 | 10.1 | 3 | 55.1% |
| DeVante Parker | 73 | 40 | 515 | 12.9 | 2 | 54.8% |
| Marquez Callaway | 84 | 46 | 698 | 15.2 | 6 | 54.8% |
| Nico Collins | 61 | 33 | 446 | 13.5 | 1 | 54.1% |
| Kenny Golladay | 76 | 37 | 521 | 14.1 | 0 | 48.7% |
| Robby Anderson | 110 | 53 | 519 | 9.8 | 5 | 48.2% |
| Odell Beckham (CLE) | 39 | 17 | 232 | 13.6 | 0 | 43.6% |
Not that wide receiver is one of the bigger issues for Rams fans to be concerned about, but they'll need either Woods or Beckham, or both, to be healthy and available at the start of the season. There's not a lot of evidence that they want to be relying on Jefferson in that No. 2 spot.
--Andy Richardson