The Cleveland Browns waived receiver Odell Beckham after a contract restructuring.
All other 31 NFL teams are asking this natural question: why not take a chance on Beckham?
For the Houston Texans, they wouldn’t be a destination that Beckham would prefer, nor should they get involved in the pursuit.
At 1-7, the Texans are in the midst of a rebuild. Their record is 5-19 going back to Week 1 of the 2020 season. General manager Nick Caserio is having to work through the mess that Bill O’Brien made when chairman and CEO Cal McNair decided to double up the coach as the team’s general manager for the 2020 season — or as soon as Brian Gaine was fired June 7, 2019. Take your pick.
What the Texans are looking to build is a culture.
“Culture’s about habits and about action,” said Caserio. “It’s about work. That’s what culture’s about. It’s being able to build up a series of habits, a series of actions, and putting those in place so you have something sustainable for a long period of time. That’s what we’re trying to do. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, it’s not going to happen all at once. It’s going to take a lot of purposeful effort, purposeful work.”
The Texans are too much work for a player like Beckham, who would be better suited on a team with a decent shot at making the playoffs. Not everyone is like Brandin Cooks, who has said it would be an honor to be on the roster that finally got things turned around in Houston.
If the Texans were where they were even last year at 2-6, it might make some sense to bring in a dynamic playmaker to pair with Deshaun Watson. The Texans need to pass on Beckham and give those reps to rookie third-rounder Nico Collins.