Miami Dolphins officially sign Odell Beckham Jr. and the reviews are mixed
It’s been a long time coming. Finally, Odell Beckham Jr. has officially signed with the Miami Dolphins on a one-year deal worth up to $8.25 million, but it took a while to get to this point.
Rumors first surfaced of Beckham landing in Miami in mid-March, when it was confirmed that the receiver had visited the facility. In the following days at the NFL annual owners’ meetings, head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed they had extended an offer. Then, there were crickets.
April came and went, and the Beckham to Miami dream started to die. The three-time Pro Bowl receiver doesn’t just make his presence known come game time. He’s the star of the show off the field, too. In typical Beckham fashion, he returned to the headlines at the right time, announcing that he would be signing a one-year deal with the Dolphins shortly after the draft concluded.
With already one of the best receiving rooms in the league, a tertiary wideout behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle was more of a luxury than a necessity. The offense could have sufficed with Braxton Berrios and their newly acquired pair of rookie pass-catchers. Perhaps the chase made it an even more appealing destination for Beckham, as he revealed that he was offered more elsewhere.
A base salary of $3 million with incentives up to $8.25 million is a major pay cut for the receiver, who comes off a one-year, $15 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens. Some argue that the Dolphins dished out too much cash on a receiver who’s past his prime while others think it was a steal.
Pat McAfee was one of the bigger fans of the deal, expressing that both parties would benefit from the signing. “[He’s] still got the juice. He’s not going to have the coverage shaded toward him at all. He’s got the opportunity to kind of feast with Tyreek Hill clearing some s*** out, same with Jaylen Waddle,” McAfee explained.
Former NFL player and television personality T.J. Houshmandzadeh had an entirely different stance. Houshmandzadeh took to the SPEAK talk show to explain that if Beckham didn’t have success in an ideal situation in Baltimore, he wouldn’t find success in Miami.
“I don’t know what his impact can be, because even last year when he was with the Ravens and Zay Flowers is the leading receiver, you would’ve thought okay, OBJ, he can really do something. They opened up the offense last year in Baltimore. They threw the ball a lot. Mark Andrews goes down. Okay, OBJ can kind of step in. He didn’t do that, so I expect his impact to be very minimal,” the former receiver said.
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