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Throughout much of the latter half of last season, Odell Beckham Jr.’s name was linked to the Cowboys. Even bleeding into the early portions of this offseason, they seemed to steadily be in the mix for the three-time Pro Bowler.
This past weekend, Beckham Jr. signed a one-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens.
The Baltimore Ravens made their boldest move of the offseason — and delivered perhaps their strongest message to disgruntled quarterback Lamar Jackson — by reaching a one-year agreement with three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Sunday.
The deal is worth up to $18 million and includes $15 million guaranteed, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Ravens had been in contact with Beckham since last year and met with him at the annual league meeting two weeks ago. Baltimore then struck a deal a day before Beckham was scheduled to visit the New York Jets.
Just about three weeks ago, the Cowboys acquired Brandin Cooks, who has gone for over 1,000 yards in each of his full NFL seasons. He came at a much cheaper price tag in terms of cap hit than Beckham Jr, although the Cowboys did have to part with a pair of day three draft picks.
Comparing the two in terms of statistics, Beckham Jr hasn’t played a full season since 2019, in which he just barley eclipsed 1,000 yards. Since then, he’s played in just 21 regular season games across three seasons and amassed 856 yards in those seasons.
Cooks has played in at least 13 games in every season since his rookie season. In the same three-season span that OBJ logged 856 receiving yards, Cooks had over triple that mark with 2,886 yards. He has also had 1,000-plus receiving yards on four different teams, some of which were with lackluster and inconsistent quarterback play.
In the last five seasons, Cooks has averaged 60 or more yards per game in three of those seasons, compared to Beckham Jr’s two, each of which came in 2018 and 2019.
Needless to say, the consistency of Cooks and utter inconsistency of OBJ makes the move the Cowboys did the right one.
Beckham Jr. is now a member of the Baltimore Ravens after agreeing to a one-year deal worth up to $18 million. That “$18 million’’ figure is important when he try to compare OBJ to Cooks.
Cooks is technically receiving $18 million this year as well. But ... Houston is paying $6 million of that. So Dallas’ 2023 cost on Cooks is $12 million.
Additionally, while Beckham will cost $15 million (his guaranteed salary) against the Ravens cap, in Dallas, Cooks will cost just $6 million on the Dallas cap in 2023 and just $10 million on the cap in 2024.
In other words, Cooks contract is for two years and a maximum of $20 million, while OBJ’s contract is for one year with a maximum $18 million.
Beckham is coming off two ACL injuries, though it is certainly possible he returns to the star-level performance we last saw in 2019. Cooks has no concerns in that area.
Cooks also doesn’t have the “diva” gene some say Odell has; at the very least, it is inarguable that Beckham brings baggage and controversy wherever he goes.
With all things considered and assessing the circumstances, who would you rather have lining up across from CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup?
Poll
Who would you rather have?
This poll is closed
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2%
Odell Beckham Jr.
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97%
Brandin Cooks
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