Free agent WR Odell Beckham Jr. remains on the Jets radar
PHOENIX — While Aaron Rodgers said he didn’t have a wish list of players he would like to play with, he wouldn’t mind playing with a former Giants receiver.
During his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show earlier this month, when he said he intends to play for the Jets, Rodgers did say Gang Green asked him about specific players. One of those appeared to be free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Despite the Jets recent additions of Allen Lazard and Mecole Hardman, Beckham has been rumored to be interested in joining Rodgers in New York this season. When asked about the possibility of signing Beckham, Saleh said there’s interest in signing any “great” player.
“Obviously, things have to work out,” Saleh said. “Obviously, there’s a whole lot of different things. And again, I apologize, I’m deferring to [Jets general manager] Joe [Douglas] a lot, but those are things like when you start talking money and all of that stuff, that’s just it becomes something else. So that’s something that I’d have to converge on.”
Beckham missed all of the 2022 season as he recovered from an ACL he suffered as a member of the Rams in their victory over the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. There was thought that Beckham would sign with a team during the middle of last season. However, he remained unsigned.
Two weeks ago, Beckham worked out in front of 14 teams, including the Jets in Arizona. While he waits for a lucrative offer, Beckham denied a report from ProFootballTalk that he was seeking a contract work around $20 million a year. But Beckham also said he was looking for more than $4 million annually.
Beckham comes with a lot of risks considering his age, 30, and injuries the last few seasons. He has suffered two ACL injuries in the previous three seasons. Beckham also tore his ACL during the 2020 season as a member of the Browns and had to have it surgically repaired before returning the season.
Also, his numbers have been down since his time with the Giants when he recorded 390 catches for 5,476 yards and 44 touchdowns. In his 37 games since 2019, Beckham has caught 141 passes for 1,891 yards and 12 touchdowns with the Browns and the Rams.
“You know ACLs nowadays, like those, are easily fixable,” Saleh said about the risk of signing Beckham. “But he’s been a fantastic receiver in this league.
“Everything you hear about him is a phenomenal person, but again, it’s just something that you know you’re always going to turn over every stone, cross your T’s, dot your I’s, just make sure you’re not missing an opportunity to add a great player and it’s no guarantee that anything will happen.
“But to go in there and talk about it, if Joe had other conversations, that’s where Joe comes from as well, we’re always going to study every player on the market to make sure that we’re not missing out on an opportunity to how to get there.”
If the Jets were to sign Beckham, he would only enhance an already talented receiver room. As a rookie, Garrett Wilson caught 83 receptions for 1,103 yards and four touchdowns en route to winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
The Jets also have Corey Davis and Denzel Mims in addition to adding Lazard and Hardman this offseason. There are also talks of the Jets potentially adding veteran Randall Cobb if they can acquire Rodgers from the Packers.
“Before any of this came up, we were given a free agent list and our scouting department and he’s part of that free agent list when you go through and study every single player,” Saleh said. “So all of these thoughts and ideas are formulated well before any of this happened.
“You study it, you look at it, you try to formulate a plan to build a team that complements one another.”
