ORLANDO, Fla. -- In an NFL offseason full of almost unimaginable trades, the Rams have been the most wheely and dealy of the wheelers and dealers. And they might not be done, with Los Angeles emerging as the top potential trade candidate for embattled wide receiver Odell Beckham.
Beckham, who reportedly wants $20 million per year from the Giants on a new contract, has been the subject of much speculation at the 2018 NFL owners meetings, primarily because of the tepid endorsements he has received thus far from the people in charge of running the Giants.
Owner John Mara sounded plain mad when talking about Beckham's appearance in a video that may or may not have featured some illicit contraband. Pat Shurmur was pretty blunt about the issue too.
"He's on our team right now," Shurmur said Tuesday morning.
Exacerbating matters is Beckham's reported unwillingness to step on the field without a new contract. Beckham will enter 2018 on the final year of his rookie deal, with the team having exercised his fifth-year option. The Giants have team control over him for the next two seasons at least, though, with the ability to tag Beckham in back-to-back years.
There would be plenty of interest for a player of Beckham's caliber on the open market, and one of the best potential landing spots would be with the Rams in Los Angeles.
Rams coach Sean McVay, who was adamant about not discussing players under contract on other teams, didn't exactly shoot down the idea.
"I think if there is one thing that you can appreciate about what we've done this offseason and the way we look at our organization is, there's no trade we wouldn't explore if we feel it can upgrade us as a team," McVay said.
Asked about a hypothetical situation involving Odell, McVay said that "hypothetically, I think a player of his caliber can really do everything."
The fit isn't hard to figure out. Adding OBJ to a receiver group that includes Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley would be like putting rocket fuel in a Ferrari. Losing Sammy Watkins was tough, but Beckham would be a massive upgrade for Los Angeles. Already a team many are eyeing as the obvious division champs, Los Angeles would surge into Super Bowl favorite status if the Rams added Beckham.
Unfortunately it's not just as simple as "hey, we'll take him." The Giants are going to demand a haul for Beckham, a former first-round pick who led the league in receiving yards per game as a rookie. OBJ has averaged 96 catches and 1,374 yards when healthy.
Last year he went down in the preseason with an ankle injury that never fully healed -- he would later fracture his ankle and most of the regular season.
There's no apples-to-apples player trade to float. Aaron Donald and Beckham are in the same position contractually and the Rams just signed Ndamukong Suh, but they're not giving up the best defensive player in the NFL for a receiver. A hypothetical Beckham trade starts with a first-round pick and probably involves more than one, which is a prohibitive price, especially for a receiver who could be available on the free agent market in the not-too-distant future.
The Rams have Jared Goff on a rookie contract right now. Even if it's No. 1 overall money, it is still an absurdly cheap cost for a franchise quarterback. The NFC West is significantly weakened from years past. The Rams smell an opportunity to go for broke here. Don't rule them out of anything, especially a wild offseason trade for a big name player.
