NFL Analyst: Odell Beckham Jr. Would 'Explode' With Patriots
Randy Moss. Antonio Brown. Odell Beckham Jr.?
Bill Belichick has never shied away from acquiring talented receivers, checkered pasts be damned. So with Beckham still a free agent, will he consider bringing him to the New England Patriots?
The Moss experiment obviously was a home run as he led the NFL in receiving touchdowns twice in three years, including 23 in 2007 on a team that went 16-0 in the regular season. The Brown era in Foxboro wasn't quite so rosy, lasting only two weeks and one game before the Patriots released him amid allegations of sexual assault.
So what about Beckham, who left his troubled tenures with the Giants and Browns behind to help the Rams to a Super Bowl last season? Los Angeles maintains its intentions to re-sign him, but Beckham is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in last February's Super Bowl championship game and remains unsigned.
As training camps open and injuries begin to pile up - like the Cowboys' James Washington, for example - receivers like Beckham, Will Fuller, T.Y. Hilton and Cole Beasley will become increasingly popular.
Despite their collection of talent, the Patriots need a No. 1 receiver for second-year quarterback Mac Jones. Early in training camp that role might be claimed by DeVante Parker. The Pats also drafted Tyquan Thornton and re-signed Jakobi Meyers, but none of those bring the resume (only one 1,000-yard season between them) or star power possessed by Beckham.
Kendrick Bourne led Pats receivers last season with only five touchdowns.
NFL Network tackled the topic of Beckham's 2022 destination recently and one analyst salivated over his potential pairing with New England.
“If no one else is going to say it, I’ll say it: send him to New England, 'The Land of Misfit Toys' of wide receivers,” said Good Morning Football's Kyle Brandt. “Are the Patriots going to just sit by and be like, ‘You know what, oh well. I guess the Bills own the AFC East. We’ll just sit here and hope for a wild card. ... No! The Patriots are going to arm up. Go get this guy. He would explode. Go give him to Mac Jones. Go take this thing.”
Given the Patriots' current receiver-by-committee stable, Belichick's risky history and the 29-year-old Beckham's past flirtation with New England - he said the Patriots were his second choice behind the Rams in 2021 - is the speculation far-fetched or feasible?
