What to Make of the 'Completely False' Odell Beckham Jr. to Vikings Trade Rumor
Odell Beckham Jr. is not going to be a Minnesota Viking in 2020. At least, not unless something changes dramatically in the future.
What appeared at first to be major news on Wednesday morning wound up being nothing more than something fun to speculate about for a while. Marc Malusis, a radio host for WFAN in New York, stirred up the frenzy by tweeting a bombshell "report" just before 10 a.m. central time: the Vikings and Browns were 'in discussions' on a trade that would send Beckham to Minnesota for two 2021 draft picks.
With so many people stuck at home and starved for content, it was no surprise that social media ate up the rumor. Malusis's tweet received over 3,000 likes. Fans debated the logic behind the deal from both perspectives, photoshopped Beckham in Vikings jerseys, and pondered where a Beckham-Adam Thielen duo would rank among the NFL's best.
Meanwhile, people who cover the teams in question were immediately skeptical. The Vikings would need to create nearly $7 million to absorb Beckham's 2020 cap hit, so another move would have to be made. Plus, would Mike Zimmer really want to add a receiver with a "diva" reputation just a month after trading away a similar player in Stefon Diggs? From the Cleveland side of things, the Browns didn't have an obvious incentive to trade Beckham, and surely they wouldn't do it for just a second-rounder and a fifth in 2021. Things didn't seem to add up.
Read: Should the Vikings Target Jake Fromm in the Middle Rounds of the Draft?
It didn't take long for those suspicions to be confirmed. Reporters and other people connected to both franchises began contacting sources to see if there was any validity to this rumor that was blowing up. They quickly found out that there was not, and the "big news" was shot down as a baseless rumor.
Paul Allen, the voice of the Vikings on KFAN radio, was the first to burst the bubble, just 75 minutes after the original tweet. Allen tweeted that a Vikings source called the report of discussions "fake news." Mary Kay Cabot, a Browns beat reporter for Cleveland.com, followed suit by reporting the same thing. Every reporter who checked with team sources was told the same thing.
On Thursday, the rumor was put to bed for good. Yahoo NFL reporter Charles Robinson said he was told "unequivocally" that the teams had not had discussions about Beckham, and that the star receiver was not on the trade block. ESPN insider Adam Schefter confirmed that report.
Just to make things even more official, several people reported a quote from Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta.
“In short, I will just say it was completely false," DePodesta said. "It's frustrating obviously. It's pretty clear what we're trying to build...the idea we'd take away from that core doesn't make sense and is not something we're exploring."
So there it is: a whole lot of nothing. Malusis didn't say that the deal was imminent, but he did report that there were discussions being had, and that was clearly not true. The compensation aspect – the two 2021 draft picks – was also completely false. He either had a bad source or got carried away in the hopes of landing a huge scoop.
The Vikings and Browns have had trade discussions this offseason, according to multiple reports, but those were centered around safety Anthony Harris. Talks will likely continue going forward, and it's not impossible that a trade involving Harris and Beckham could arise in conversations. Just because DePodesta said the Browns aren't exploring a Beckham trade doesn't rule it out completely; just look back to Rick Spielman's comments before trading Percy Harvin in 2013 and Diggs last month.
But those conversations haven't happened at this point, and there has certainly been no discussion of trading Beckham for draft picks. The lesson here is to take rumors and reports with a grain of salt, unless they come from a national insider like Schefter or Ian Rapaport, or someone closely connected to either team.
The draft is just one week away. Stay patient, people.
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