Chiefs Shouldn’t Go After Odell Beckham Jr. This Season
On Monday afternoon, it was reported by Jordan Schultz of theScore that the Kansas City Chiefs have remained in contact with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. during the latest stage of his free agency.
Beckham, now rehabbed from a torn ACL that he suffered in the Super Bowl back in February, has recently visited with a few different teams but doesn't appear to be making a final decision very soon. Additionally, two of the clubs he held visits with — the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys — have since signed veteran wideouts. As a result, his options for the rest of the 2022 campaign may become even slimmer.
While the Chiefs haven't officially had or scheduled a visit with Beckham, Schultz's report indicates that general manager Brett Veach is at least doing his due diligence in terms of seeing how things are going. Despite that, however, advancing beyond that and actually inking the 30-year-old veteran to a contract doesn't make much sense at this point. Let's talk about why.
Beckham doesn't want to play in the regular season
There are four more games left in the 2022 regular season entering Week 15's play, but Beckham doesn't necessarily plan on participating in any of them. In a recent appearance on Amazon Prime Video's TNF in The Shop, he discussed a potential timeline for his return to play and said he'd prefer to wait until the postseason to officially get back out on the field:
"For me, I would like to be in a stable environment, get up at 6 a.m. and leave at 6 p.m. for four weeks, and then let's talk about it. I've played football for a long time. I'm not saying that I couldn't step in and play in the regular season, but I don't see the point. I really don't. I would rather play when the pressure's on. I'd rather play when the lights are on."
For someone who has passed the aforementioned dreaded 30-year mark and is coming off another significant knee injury, those four weeks could allow Beckham to shake off some rust and get back into game shape. If the Chiefs signed him and he didn't play until the club's playoff run, Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes wouldn't have a good read on how to get him involved on offense. That necessitates another point.
In-season receiver pickups don't do well with the Chiefs
The Chiefs don't have to travel too far back in time to recall an instance of the team signing a veteran wide receiver during the season, only for the move to ultimately not pan out. Kansas City signed Josh Gordon in September of last year and in 12 games, he mustered all of five receptions for 32 yards and a touchdown. He didn't play in any playoff games, either. In 2018, Kelvin Benjamin signed in December and recorded a pair of catches on five targets. Neither player was effective.
Reid's offense is notoriously difficult to pick up over the course of the year, let alone on the fly. Everyone else is beginning to find their footing as the season winds down, and Beckham would have a tricky time getting going with just a few weeks to study the playbook and adjust to playing with an improviser like Mahomes. Beckham's profile is obviously better than that of Gordon or Benjamin, but it's unclear what he'll look like moving forward. Expecting anything remotely close to his 2021-22 playoff run would be foolish.
Kansas City has enough cooks in the kitchen at wideout
The Chiefs have plenty of depth at the receiver position. The top four of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Justin Watson, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore seems relatively set in stone as of the publishing of this article, and that goes without even considering Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney. Hardman will soon be eligible to come off the injured reserve list, and Toney has been making progress with his hamstring injury and could return to play shortly. Two pseudo-additions are already on the way, leaving little room for Beckham.
Reports throughout Beckham's rehab and free agency tour have indicated that he'd like a multi-year deal. If that remains the case during the offseason, it makes much more sense for the Chiefs to see how things play out with the likes of Smith-Schuster and Hardman (and possibly even Valdes-Scantling), then potentially get in on the Beckham sweepstakes. The timing just doesn't seem to be ideal right now, nor does the opportunity. As a result, Kansas City is best suited simply relying on the guys is has and revisiting the Beckham situation a few months from now.
