Justin Jefferson says he talked to Odell Beckham Jr.

"He was watching the game and we was talking about all of the things that we're excited for in the future."

Author:
Joe Nelson
Publish date:
Nov 18, 2022 1:53 PM EST

As December approaches all eyes are on Odell Beckham Jr., who has been at the center of free-agent rumors for months as he is expected to sign with a contender when he's ready to return from the torn ACL he suffered in last season's Super Bowl.

One of his friends, Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson, said he talked to Beckham before and after he made his electrifying catch in Minnesota's win over the Bills on Sunday.

"I talked to Odell before that game, during that week. It was kind of funny how it so happened I make a catch to top his, or whatever you want to call it. But it was definitely weird to talk to him on the phone and then make a one-handed catch similar to something he did in the game," Jefferson said, referencing Beckham's one-handed touchdown against the Cowboys in 2014.

That's just buddy-buddy talk. But the way Jefferson described their conversation after the game has left everyone wondering what he meant.

"I talked to him literally on the bus to the plane, him just congratulating me. He was watching the game and we was talking about all of the things that we're excited for in the future. He just was just congratulating me, being a big brother and supporting me."

Talking about "all of the things that we're excited for." Could that mean there's a chance Beckham winds up in Minnesota with the 8-1 Vikings? There weren't any follow-up questions to Jefferson's answer, but there has been zero Beckham-to-Vikings for about a month.

If you want some juicy Twitter action, check out Beckham's heart emoji response to a report that MetLife Stadium, the home of the Giants and Jets, is switching to artificial grass next year.

The Giants are 7-2 and the team Beckham rose to stardom with. If Beckham wants to play for a contender, he would certainly make the Giants better. Beckham's Los Angeles teammate from last year, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, said on "The Shop" podcast with LeBron James, Jamie Foxx and other celebrities and athletes Monday night that he talks to Beckham every week and believes he's headed to the NFC East.

“If I was a betting man, I would say he’s gonna go back to New York, or to the Cowboys. If I was a betting man right now,” Ramsey said.

Minnesota's offense has been dynamic in two games since acquiring tight end T.J. Hockenson from the Lions, so the pressure to give Kirk Cousins another weapon isn't as heavy as it was before the trade deadline.

And for the Vikings to have any shot at getting Beckham they would have to rework someone's contract (like right tackle Brian O'Neill) because they only have $1.5 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap.

The Giants have $2.8 million available and the Cowboys have $6.7 million.

The Odell-Minnesota talk is interesting for a myriad of reasons, including him being in Cleveland with current Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and playing with the Rams when Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was L.A.'s offensive coordinator.

And perhaps the least meaningful but most interesting connection is Beckham's mother, Heather Van Norman, who was a track star at Windom High School in Minnesota before running track at the University of Minnesota for a year and then transferring to LSU, where she met Odell Beckham Sr. and the Odell Beckham Jr. story began.

Beckham himself has put it on record that he wants to sign with a team where he can find a true home for the next 3-4 years.

"Whether it's Buffalo, whether it was Green Bay calling, the Cowboys or the reunion with the Giants, I want to be able to spill these next 3 or 4 years into something where I can buy a home, where I can call this place home. I'm tired of living out of two-week suitcases. I've done the rock-n-roll life," Beckham said.