Packer Central

Report: Beckham ‘Honing In’ on Packers, Two Other Teams

Here's something you've never heard before: A high-profile free agent would like to play for the Green Bay Packers.

Bill Huber

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

A high-profile free agent wants to play for the Green Bay Packers.

The latest, allegedly, is former All-Pro receiver Odell Beckham Jr. According to Jordan Schultz, “Odell Beckham, Jr. has prioritized the #Packers as his No. 1 destination should he clear waivers, per sources.”

Schultz’s tweet was posted about 90 minutes before the waiver deadline on Tuesday. Nobody claimed him on waivers, meaning:

One, Beckham is a free agent.

Two, Beckham won’t be collecting the remaining $7.25 million due under a revised contract.

A cynic might point out that tweet was planted so some team that really wanted Beckham – potentially the New Orleans Saints – would claim Beckham on waivers so the team could get a potential difference-making player and the player would get a lot more money than he’ll get now as a street free agent.

Even if that was the motivation, the Packers reportedly are in the mix. On Wednesday morning, ESPN's Dianna Russini said the Packers were in Beckham's top three.

Are the Packers interested enough to entice Beckham over what might be stronger offers from those other teams? The Saints, in particular, are starved for a premier receiver with All-Pro Michael Thomas out for the season due to ongoing ankle issues.

"I don't think he ends up there," one league source speculated when asked about the Packers.

It would not be the first time Green Bay has been floated as a free-agent destination in an agent's effort to drive up the price for his client.

With limited cap space, receiver might be the least of Green Bay’s problems. Davante Adams, Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling returned for Sunday’s game at the Kansas City Chiefs. With veteran Randall Cobb, the Packers have a solid quartet of receivers.

But the Packers did lose a big-time target when tight end Robert Tonyan tore an ACL vs. Arizona. To compensate, the Packers went with some four-receiver sets vs. the Chiefs.

“I thought some of the stuff we did with some of the four-receiver packages was good, especially not having Bobby,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show.

Green Bay’s largest need would be at cornerback, with Jaire Alexander (shoulder) and Eric Stokes (knee) out with injuries. The team hopes Alexander will return this season, and coach Matt LaFleur didn’t believe Stokes’ injury – suffered during warmups on Sunday – would be of long-term concern.

Still, the Packers got through the Kansas City game with Rasul Douglas, Kevin King and Chandon Sullivan as the cornerbacks. King’s injury history is as long as the season-ticket waiting list; he had just missed three-plus games with a shoulder injury.

Beckham, who turned 29 last week, opened his career with Pro Bowl accolades in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He topped 1,000 receiving yards five times from 2014 through 2019, with the exception being 2017, when he missed most of the season with a broken ankle.

In 2020 with Cleveland, he caught 23 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns in seven games. In six games this season for Cleveland, he caught 17 passes for 232 yards and zero touchdowns. That’s 40 receptions and three touchdowns over the past 13 games – not exactly premier-playmaker stuff.

"He's still talented but, man, he's a headache," the source said.

It's possible Beckham will play at Lambeau Field on Sunday. Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll didn’t exactly run from his team’s potential interest.

“He's a really good football player,” Carroll told Seahawks beat reporters on Monday. He’s as talented as you could be in the years past. You're always looking for guys that can do special stuff. Forever, I've shared with you guys that we're looking for uniqueness and people that are different than other people and give you different dimensions to their play. So, that's what we're trying to figure out and investigate and see if if there's a chance and all that kind of stuff if it makes sense.”

Beckham has had one impact moment at Lambeau Field – literally. In the 2016 playoffs while he was with the Giants, Beckham caught 4-of-11 passes for 28 yards. Green Bay won 38-13. While he did not inflict pain on the Packers, he inflicted pain on himself.

Aaron Rodgers on Pat McAfee Show

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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