Cowboys 'Red Flag' Odell Beckham Jr., Admit Truth: What If Injured OBJ Can't Play This Season?
FRISCO - We've been trying to tell Cowboys Nation this since Oct. 24, when the idea of Odell Beckham Jr. signing with the Dallas Cowboys first became a serious consideration here inside The Star.
And now, to be frank, the Cowboys are willing to leak what we already reported, with us using this exact phrase: "How can OBJ be 'cleared to play' while also being 'not cleared to work out''?
A major question that was always hanging in the air - regardless of pablum like OBJ saying "It's a good possibility'' he'd sign with the Cowboys while on attending a Dallas Mavs game - was his availability.
It's why every single time Jerry and Stephen Jones talked about the desire to sign Beckham - who suffered a torn ACL in the Super Bowl last February while playing with the Rams - they talked about "this year'' ... about him helping them make a "Super Bowl push this year.''
OBJ met with the Cowboys medical staff in and around The Star on Monday and underwent a physical to check out in part the status of that rehabbed knee.
As CowboysSI.com was first to report, however, he was never expected to actually work out for the Cowboys, an activity he also skipped on recent "OBJ World Tour'' visits with the Giants and Bills.
And the Cowboys were "disappointed'' - the polite word we used to describe their feelings when we broke that story on Friday.
And now? Somebody inside this building finally said, if not "No,'' then at least, "Slow down.''
That no-workout whisper was a red flag for the Cowboys organization. They decided to bull through the behavior/diva/Air OBJ thing. But you can't bull through a torn-up knee.
Red. Flag.
That needs to be repeated over and over and over again for the people who have made up "percentages that he would sign'' or faked "predictions'' based on information that simply did not exist.
"This year is our priority as we sit here right now,'' COO Stephen Jones said. "No question about it. ... We've got a really solid football team that can compete to win a championship this year. Certainly that is our focus.
"We've done our planning and we understand how future years work as well, but our No. 1 priority is to win football games right now."
Does that "future'' mean OBJ can get a contract for "someday''? Maybe.
But we've asked this question before, and now that the truth is being leaked, we repeat that this is maybe the biggest issue of all: If the Joneses are stressing "win now,'' but OBJ's knee does not yet allow him to contribute to the "now'' ... What is the point of all of this?
Tell OBJ that you'll sign him to a conservative deal now, with his pledge that he'll move to Frisco and work under the supervision of the Cowboys medical staff, with the possibility of big money tacked on when he proves he can actually run, plant and cut?
Fine.
But this? Now?
“Everything is good, man,” Beckham told us said as he walked in the AAC. "Everything is nice. I plead the Fifth on everything else.”
But everything is not "good'' for anybody who was hoodwinked about "percentages'' and "predictions.'' And good for the Cowboys - who as Jerry said are "trying to make it work'' - to also be tapping the brakes along that path.
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