The Buffalo Bills just announced that they signed former 2nd-round pick Chase Claypool to a one-year free agent deal; however, within an hour of that announcement, the Miami Dolphins shared they just signed former first-rounder, receiver Odell Beckham Jr. OBJ has been a hot topic over the last couple of years and rumored to be on the Bills radar every year. Now, he's joining the Bills division rival and kind of makes you wonder if he has no desire to play for the Bills. Personally, I think Buffalo isn't offering him the kind of money he wants.
OBJ is signing a one-year deal worth $3 million, with incentives that could max the deal at over $8 million. Will the Bills regret not signing him instead of Claypool? If you had your choice, who would you prefer? I'm not a fan of signing a player, simply to keep him away from another team, and to answer my own question, I'd rather have Claypool. I think there is a much greater upside with Claypool, given he's only 25 and still in his prime years. Those years are well past OBJ at this point in his career. While there's a possibility Claypool can bounce back and be a reliable target for the Bills over the next several years, it's not a sure thing.
Would Odell Beckham Jr have made sense for the Buffalo Bills?
OBJ is now 31 years old, has two major knee injuries, and playing for his fifth team. The career numbers look great, but he hasn't done much since 2019. You could argue he was on his way to having a tremendous performance in the Super Bowl for the Rams and didn't play at all in 2022 due to the knee injury sustained during that Super Bowl. Last season with the Baltimore Ravens, he played in 14 games, starting six, and had only 35 receptions on 64 targets. He had a solid yards per catch of 16.1, for 565 yards. However, he's so far from the receiver he was early in his career.
Be sure to check out The Mafia Cast's latest podcast episode, part of BuffaLowDown and powered by FanSided. You can download the latest from Apple Podcast, or anywhere you get your podcasts from.