How a FaceTime call with Jalen Ramsey sealed Odell Beckham Jr.'s LA Rams move
As of yesterday, there were about five NFL teams that were in the running to sign wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. But when news broke that Beckham was signing with the Los Angeles Rams, it raised some eyebrows.
The questions were mainly around playing time. The Los Angeles Rams have a highly talented wide receiving core. This core is so dominated by wide receiver Cooper Kupp that DeSean Jackson asked for his release from the team last week. Kupp is currently leading the NFL in receiving yards with 1,019. He's also completed ten touchdowns and 74 receptions.
The other concern was salary cap. The Los Angeles Rams acquired linebacker Von Miller just last week after agreeing to allow the Denver Broncos to have the Rams' 2nd and 3rd round draft picks in 2022, and the Broncos are still responsible for a significant amount of Miller's salary, as to not affect the Rams' salary cap.
So what was the deciding factor for Odell Beckham Jr. to choose to sign with the Los Angeles Rams?
RT to welcome @obj to LA! 😁 https://t.co/lx2aOTPcAU
A FaceTime call with Jalen Ramsey convinced Odell Beckham Jr. to sign with the Rams
On Friday morning on NFL Network's Good Morning Football, Peter Schrager spoke about Beckham's decision to join the Rams. A day prior to signing with Los Angeles, Beckham spoke to Rams head coach Sean McVay on the phone.
McVay apparently told him that the offense would include four receivers and that he would get "looks" and that it wasn't necessarily about "touches" but just an opportunity to win. McVay apparently has wanted Beckham on his team for many years, going as far back as when Beckham played for the New York Giants.
But it was a FaceTime call afterward that really sealed the deal. According to Schrager:
"At one point while recruiting him over FaceTime, Ramsey took his phone into the @RamsNFL WRs room & asked all the guys, with Odell looking on from the phone, 'Boys, do we want this guy?' & the response in the room was awesome."
Schrager also said that Beckham talked to Von Miller, who hasn't even played his first game with the Rams yet, as well as McVay and Ramsey, which convinced him that he wanted to choose the Rams.
https://t.co/p87iDED7uk
Beckham was apparently down to the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers, and the recruiting from the Los Angeles players sealed the deal for Beckham.
How the #Rams got OBJ: Odell was on FaceTime with Jalen Ramsey and asked if he'll fit in with all the other WRs.
Ramsey got up, went to the WR room, put Robert Woods & Cooper Kupp on FaceTime with OBJ, and they all told him to come, per @PSchrags.
Few hours later OBJ picked LA.
Former New York Jets Pro Bowl center, Nick Mangold, who was a guest host on GMFB this week, also chimed in on his thoughts about what enticed Beckham to Los Angeles. Mangold said:
"This is one of the big reasons that the Rams moved to L.A. They have the star power to say, 'Why don't you come out to L.A.?' Odell's coming to L.A., I think for L.A. I think the idea that he could win a championship, that is huge, but for the idea that being in L.A. The opportunities that it presents, you're not getting that in Green Bay. He was going to get a lot more touches in Green Bay. He apparently wasn't going to get paid as much. You can still win a championship in Green Bay, but you're not getting 'those opportunities'. I think L.A. was kind of the 'bright light' for Odell."
Get your 🍿 ready for this WR trio. https://t.co/Qq22Le8PHS
Odell Beckham Jr. will step into a team that has some of the most notable names in the entire National Football League. What will be the dynamic between Odell and quarterback Matthew Stafford? That remains to be seen, but Stafford seemed optimistic yet realistic after Thursday's practice:
"Have a lot of respect for him. It's going to take time. It's going to take work for everybody to be on the same page -- him to learn what we're doing and how we go about our business, and us two working together and all that kind of stuff."
As Kay Adams on GMFB mentioned, Beckham has had issues with his last two quarterbacks toward the end of his tenure with Eli Manning with the New York Giants and, most recently, Baker Mayfield with the Cleveland Browns.
The Los Angeles Rams have eight regular-season games remaining to see if all the free agency and trade mastermind work is successful.