The calls for the Cowboys to sign free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. are getting louder.
And they’re coming from inside the building.
Ezekiel Elliott joined a growing chorus of Cowboys publicly lobbying for the three-time Pro Bowler to bring his pass-catching talents- and his rehabbed left knee- to Dallas. Following Wednesday’s practice, Elliott talked about what the nine-year veteran would bring to the locker room.
“We know the type of player Odell is,” Elliott said, per Patrik Walker of the team website. “We know how explosive he can be and what he can be for this offense. It’d be great to get him down here in Dallas- another weapon in our repertoire… We want him. We want OBJ.”
As a result of the owner and head coach making it okay to publicly woo him, Cowboys players now making it very difficult for said owner not to cave to OBJ's contract demands.
Hope it works out for all parties involved bc yikes if he ends up somewhere else.
— KD Drummond (@KDDrummondNFL) November 9, 2022
Beckham has been seen as a high-profile option for the Cowboys all season long, after they traded Amari Cooper to the Browns. CeeDee Lamb has taken over the WR1 role on paper, but is not having the kind of clearly dominating campaign the team had hoped for since opposing defenses have been able to make him the focus of their pass coverages.
Michael Gallup missed the first three games of the season recovering from his own ACL tear and had yet to catch more than four balls or log over 50 receiving yards in a game this year. James Washington is still waiting to make his Cowboys debut, and a host of young and/or inexperienced receivers has been left to try to provide a reliable and consistent on-field threat.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy praised Beckham, a former first-round draft pick, on Monday after a weekend report claimed that the team had Beckham “in their sights” and “firmly on their radar.”
McCarthy told reporters of the longtime Cowboys rival, “I’ve heard so many excellent things about him over the years. I think those are conversations for the future.”
That future came Tuesday when owner Jerry Jones did his coach one better, saying on Dallas radio, “Odell is someone that we have all the appreciation in the world for what he is as a competitor and know that the Cowboys star on that helmet, when he puts it on, could look pretty good.”
Former Cowboys receivers Michael Irvin and Dez Bryant have made no secret that they want to see Beckham in silver and blue, and second-year linebacker Micah Parsons made his sales pitch via a Twitter exchange with Beckham on Tuesday.
Parsons had more to say about it after Wednesday’s practice.
“[Expletive], we could use him. I think he’s a great player,” the Penn State product said, again via Walker. “He’s a guy that you want on the team. Beside all of that critic stuff that people make up and [expletive] about him, I think he’s a great dude… I think he can add real value to the team and help us do what we wanna do… If the guy is on the market and he’s talking about he wants to win games then, [expletive], me too. I wanna win games just as bad as you do. If you wanna win games, come and win games over here. Help us get to that Bowl.”
That’s exactly what Beckham did in 2021 with the Rams. After a midseason split with Cleveland, Los Angeles brought Beckham aboard for their final eight games; he scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl LVI before re-tearing the same ACL he first injured in 2020.
But even with a growing medical history and having just turned 30 years old, most believe that Beckham has plenty left in the tank, enough at least to help out on a contending team that is asking him to be an ensemble contributor, not the leading man.
But now that the coach, owner, and several A-list players have been so vocal and so up front about painting that picture for their fans, the Cowboys have all but painted their own front office into a corner when it comes to actually getting a deal done.
It starts with a phone call.
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