Beckham Addition Takeaways

The Miami Dolphins made a very good low-risk, high-rewarded signing when they acquired the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver

Odell Beckham Jr. / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Assorted observations regarding the Miami Dolphins addition of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.:

LOW-RISK, HIGH-REWARD BY DOLPHINS

We'll get out of the way right off the top the most obvious takeaway from this move, which is that giving Beckham a one-year deal with a base of $3 million as a salary is the definition of a low-risk, high-reward move.

Beckham's deal, per multiple reports, could get him as much as $8.5 million with incentives, but even without knowing the exact details of those incentives, it's fair to suggest that the closest he gets to that maximum payout, the better it will be for the Dolphins.

While we would expect Beckham to be a factor for the offense in 2024 based on what he showed with the Baltimore Ravens last season, it still wouldn't be an egregious amount if things somehow didn't pan out.

WHAT ABOUT THE TWO WASHINGTONS?

This is the only peculiar part of the whole situation, the Beckham move coming about a week after the Dolphins added not one but two wide receivers in the draft — Malik Washington and Tahj Washington.

The two draft picks are viewed as slot receivers in the NFL, and that's also where Beckham projects to help out the Dolphins the most given his current skill set, though he certainly could line up outside at times as well.

The agreement with Beckham came more than a month after the Dolphins first brought him in for a free agent visit and made him a contract offer, and there's certainly nothing wrong with building additional depth, but his presence very well could wind up making one of the two Washington rookies expendable and make their path to the 53-man roster much rougher.

With Beckham joining Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, the Dolphins now will have room for likely no more than three other wide receivers among the two Washington rookies, Braxton Berrios, River Cracraft, Erik Ezukanma, Braylon Sanders, Matthew Sexton and Anthony Schwartz.

So either one of the draft picks or one of the veterans who previously were on the 53-man roster (Berrios, Cracraft, Ezukanma) won't make the cut.

WHERE BECKHAM COULD HELP

As we've mentioned before, this isn't prime Odell Beckham that the Dolphins will be getting because injuries and time have taken their toll, but there's zero question he still can help the offense — and in a big way.

What stands out from his 2023 stats with the Baltimore Ravens is the yards-per-reception average of 16.1, which actually was the best of his career.

Beckham also had his share of big plays, including one against the Dolphins when he had a 33-yard reception from Lamar Jackson in the second quarter in Week 17.

But word out of Baltimore is that Beckham doesn't have great speed anymore — his torn ACL in Super Bowl LV while playing for the Los Angeles Rams didn't help — but still have the great hands that helped him make so many highlight-reel catches in his career.

THE BEST THIRD WIDE RECEIVER IN DOLPHINS HISTORY?

Going through the Dolphins history, it's really difficult to find a time when the Dolphins had a wide receiver trio to match Hill, Waddle and Beckham.

Additionally, we can't come up with one wide receiver added in the offseason to be the third option who comes close to Beckham, the closest being rookie second-round pick Jarvis Landry in 2014 when he joined Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline in the wide receiver corps.

Another great offseason addition to become a third wide receiver was Gary Clark when he arrived in 1995 to join Irving Fryar and Mark Ingram, but we'll take the Beckham addition over that one. Going way back, the Dolphins traded a future first-round pick to the Buffalo Bills to acquire Marlin Briscoe in 1972 to join starters Paul Warfield and Howard Twilley and Briscoe ended up leading the perfect Dolphins in touchdown receptions that season with four.

In terms of the best wide receiver trio in Dolphins history, the best to date probably would be the Mark Clayon-Mark Duper-Nat Moore combination of the 1980s, but this new trio of Hill, Waddle and Beckham has the potential to top it.

Other memorable Dolphins wide receiver trios would include Fryar, Ingram and O.J. McDuffie in 1994; and Brandon Marshall, Brian Hartline and Davone Bess in 2010-11.