Is OBJ to the Bills Really a Good Idea?
It may look good on paper, but I do have my reservations
By now you probably know that Odell Beckham, Jr has done his 3 team tour that included the NY Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and our Buffalo Bills. OBJ visited the Bills on Friday.
On paper there is a positional fit for OBJ in Buffalo. He would probably take the role left behind by Cole Beasley, but he also has the ability to beat you down the field. In essence he would share the WR2 spot with Gabe Davis.
Not only that, everyone’s favorite new Bill, Von Miller, vouches for his buddy and says he is a good teammate. Hey, if Miller (who has shared a locker room with OBJ) says that, who am I to argue?
All that is great, but I can’t shake the feeling that the OBJ isn’t really a good idea for the Bills.
How effective will OBJ be in 2022? Better yet, will he even play this season? OBJ tore his ACL in last season’s Super Bowl. That was on February 13, 2022. We aren’t even 10 months from the injury. The 10th month is on the quick end of being cleared to play from a torn ACL, but full recovery usually takes longer (remember Tre’ White?).
Say OBJ was cleared to play right now. He’s not in football shape. If he were to sign today, how long would it be before he is ready to play in an actual game? If it takes 2 week to get ready to play, that’ll put him ready for the last 2 games against the Bengals and the Patriots. Is that enough time to get everyone acclimated to each other for the playoffs?
As I was writing this post, ESPN’s Ed Werder tweeted this. Hmmm…
Let’s say that everything about OBJ does work out physically. What about the future? It is believed that signing OBJ will have to be for more than 2022. It would take at least another year. Not only that, there is a report that OBJ wants a contract that is around $20 million/year. This is where I have the biggest apprehensions about signing OBJ.
Looking at the players who are poised for free agency from this roster, there are bigger fish to fry than OBJ. Here is a list of free agents and potential free agents.*
Unrestricted Free Agents
Tremaine Edmunds
Jordan Poyer
Devin Singletary
Shaq Lawson
Restricted Free Agents
Dane Jackson
Cam Lewis
Contracts That Can Be Voided for 2023
Roger Saffold
Jordan Phillips
Furthermore, here is a list of current Bills players that could be free agents after the 2023 season.
Ed Oliver
Micah Hyde
Tim Settle
Isaiah McKenzie
Gabe Davis
There are too many players on this list that more important to the Bills’ success than the potential of OBJ.
Edmunds and Poyer are priorities for the Bills this offseason (hopefully they’ll be extended before they hit free agency). How well (or not well) the Bills defense played when they were out shows how important they are to this team.
What are the Bills’ plans with Singletary?
They aren’t on expensive contracts, but both Saffold and Phillips will probably be brought back.
Oliver and Hyde (especially Oliver) should be priorities as well.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Bills’ approach will be with McKenzie and Davis although both of their value would probably be less than OBJ’s.
I’m not saying that OBJ wouldn’t have been a value to the Bills if he hadn’t been injured and here all season. Any smart mind would see that. And I’m also not saying that Big Baller Beane couldn’t figure out a way to make the money work with a salary cap. However, at this point signing OBJ is too much of a risk to the 2022 team than is needed at this point.
Is signing OBJ to the Bills at this point a good idea? I’d pass.
*We will take a deeper look at the Bills’ free agents at the end of the season.