At this point, the only new developments in the Odell Beckham Jr. saga are which members of the Cowboys family are going to come out next to publicly say they’d welcome him to the team.
The free agent wide receiver has been a hot topic all week long, and everyone from Mike McCarthy to Ezekiel Elliott, CeeDee Lamb to Dak Prescott, and Micah Parsons to Jerry Jones has made statements that make it seem like this marriage of onetime rivals could actually happen.
But now the most important voice of them all has confirmed that it’s more than just talk.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, the real behind-the-curtain holder of the franchise’s purse strings spoke on-air with SiriusXM NFL Radio on Friday and addressed the rampant rumors that the team is in the mix to sign Beckham once he is medically cleared from an ACL tear suffered in February’s Super Bowl.
“We’re always open to making our team better,” Jones told Bruce Murray.
“We played against Odell most of his career when he was with the Giants, and he’s one of those guys that… he can hurt you. I know he made a bunch of big plays against us. He’s a free agent out there, and certainly a guy that you have to be looking into in terms of how he could make our football team better. Obviously, what he did for the Rams last year in their Super Bowl run, it was huge.”
Now, none of that is anything more than Jones’s typical tapdancing around a real answer, and it says nothing about Beckham actually coming to Dallas.
But then Jones spoke in the most definitive terms yet that there is, in fact, real interest in getting into negotiations with the three-time Pro Bowler, who just turned 30 this week.
"We'll just roll up our sleeves and see if there is an opportunity for us to put a star on Odell's helmet."@DallasCowboys Executive VP Stephen Jones on the possibility of signing WR Odell Beckham Jr.
👇AUDIO👇 | #DallasCowboys | #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/WI4bERGxkl
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) November 11, 2022
“He can go anywhere he wants in terms of all 32, but we want to make our compelling case. And certainly at the end of the day, it’s about business as well, so we’ll just roll up our sleeves and see if there’s an opportunity for us to put a star on Odell’s helmet.”
That’s more than Jerry fantasizing about seeing Beckham wearing the star, selling a few additional tickets, and moving some jerseys at the pro shop.
That’s the man who actually does the deals talking about “making a compelling case,” “rolling up his sleeves,” and running the numbers on putting the Cowboys’ league-leading $8.35 million worth of cap space to work to bring OBJ to DFW.
And maybe eventually getting a sixth Lombardi Trophy as a bonus.
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