Report: Odell Beckham Jr. wants to play with the Seahawks

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said on Sunday Night Football’s pregame that Odell Beckham, Jr. wants to play with Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. Florio also said that Beckham would rather clear waivers after his official release on Monday and sign as a free agent. But while other teams will obviously be in the running to get the receiver, Beckham might choose Seattle.

Of course, Seattle would either have to claim Beckham off of waivers by Tuesday’s waiver-wire deadline and pay him the remainder of his 2021 salary (as any other team would) or sign him if he does clear.

But there are several teams that could afford Beckham currently, such as the Steelers and Saints, and sign him in free agency or another team could claim Beckham first as the Seahawks are currently ninth in the waiver-claiming order.

It is assumed that Beckham wants to play with a quarterback who can throw deep extremely well and Russell Wilson is the perfect quarterback for that. While Wilson will be coming back from a finger injury soon (hopefully in week 10), he should be fine as the season wears on.

Odell Beckham, Jr. to the Seahawks a real possibility

If Seattle were to sign Beckham, their top three receivers would be Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf and Beckham. That would be the best trio of receivers in the NFL. The question, however, is whether Seattle should spend their cap space on another offensive lineman and an available edge rusher.

But to be fair, at this point in the season, there is not going to be a center (Seattle’s most glaring issue on the offensive line) that is still a free agent that would greatly improve the Seahawks. And Seattle has talent at edge rusher on paper but the team has underperformed in that department.

Maybe adding Beckham wouldn’t actually be that bad. Metcalf is already a great receiver but he could learn even more from Beckham and Beckham being on the field takes even less focus from Lockett. Lockett has a perfect passer rating (158.3) when targeted in single-coverage in 2021.

Of course, Beckham will likely be with his new team by Wednesday and there is a decent chance that could be the Seahawks. After whiffing on free agents Josh Gordon and Richard Sherman, maybe general manager John Schneider feels he needs to sign Beckham simply to help Russell Wilson be happier.