Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t have much time to get up to speed in Los Angeles after signing with the Rams a couple of weeks ago. His role was limited in his debut against the 49ers but his role grew against the Packers two weeks later and he remained an important part of the offense Sunday against the Jaguars.
Matthew Stafford has worked to get on the same page as Beckham and although there were some miscommunications early on, they’re working well together now. Being on a new team himself, Stafford appreciates the job Beckham has done to learn the Rams offense, especially in such a short period of time.
That’s what has really impressed Stafford about Beckham.
“What he’s been able to do in a short period of time, as far as understanding what we’re trying to accomplish offensively is pretty impressive to me,” Stafford said on the “Rich Eisen Show.” “I didn’t know what kind of exposure he had to an offense like this and truthfully, he didn’t have much verbiage-wise or anything like that that was much carryover. But he’s done a great job kind of just jumping in.”
Is Matthew Stafford fully, 100% healthy?
We asked the #RamsHouse QB that very question and what it's been like since adding @obj to their explosive offense:#NFL#MBVans pic.twitter.com/ddLet9sBm4
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) December 9, 2021
Stafford had all offseason to learn Sean McVay’s offense and dive into the playbook. Beckham has had to hit the ground running, but Stafford sees a silver lining to the receiver’s short period of time to get acclimated.
Because each week’s game plan is so specific and focused, Beckham can hone in on his role in particular without having to learn every play like he would have in camp.
“The good thing about right now in a season rather than training camp where you’re trying to get every single play you’re ever going to run in an entire season in in a three-week period, right now, our game plans are pretty succinct,” he said. “They’re pretty tight and he can kind of go in and learn his role and figure out what we’re trying to do that week, go out and execute it and last week was a good example of that. Had a nice catch on a bootleg and then had a great touchdown catch. We just missed on another one down the field, so his role’s growing but I have been really impressed with what he’s been able to do in such a short amount of time.”
Beckham played 27% of the snaps against the 49ers and 98% against the Packers before getting some snaps off this past week as he battled through a hip injury; he played 53% against Jacksonville.
Assuming Monday’s game against the Cardinals is close, he should play nearly every snap once again.