Report says there's nothing to wild trade rumor of Odell Beckham Jr. going from Browns to Vikings

Given the lack of any sporting events on the calendar, it doesn’t take much for a trade rumor to get a life of its own.

That’s how we got a couple hours of hysteria over a Cleveland Browns-Minnesota Vikings trade rumor involving star receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

In short, it’s not happening, according to longtime Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.

But hey, it was fun to think about for a little while.

How the Odell Beckham rumor got started

Here’s how the hullaballoo started. Marc Malusis, a radio host on WFAN 660, tweeted that sources told him of the trade discussions. He said the Vikings would be trading a second- and fifth-round pick to Cleveland.

It seemed odd that a New York radio host would be the one to break the story of an enormous trade between the Browns and Vikings. Still, it became a thing.

That led to a few NFL reporters denying the validity of the report, the strongest coming from Cabot. But it didn’t stop a lot of speculation and debate before it was debunked. Go search “Odell Beckham Vikings” on Twitter if you wish.

But unless the Browns are doing this in extreme secret (and the Vikings have figured out how to clear out a good amount of cap space), Vikings fans can quit dreaming about replacing Stefon Diggs with Beckham.

Beckham’s first Browns season didn’t go well

The reason the trade rumor seemed a little believable — aside from the Houston Texans actually giving away All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a trade earlier this offseason, which means any trade after that can’t be too impossible — was that Beckham’s first season with Cleveland wasn’t great. It didn’t help that Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer was touting some “big, big news” on Tuesday night that he planned to reveal on Wednesday.

Playing through injury, Beckham put up 1,035 yards and four touchdowns. That’s not what the Browns were signing up for when they traded for Beckham from the New York Giants. Still, Cleveland isn’t better off without Beckham, and they wouldn’t replace him with second- and fifth-round picks.

The Vikings weren’t really in a cap position to trade for Beckham anyway. According to OverTheCap.com, the Vikings had a little less than $12.3 million in effective cap space and a lot of that will go to their draft class.

it doesn’t seem entirely out of the question the Browns could at least entertain some calls for Beckham. But Wednesday’s rumored trade reportedly won’t be happening.

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