Seahawks, all NFL decline to claim Odell Beckham Jr. on waivers. He’s on the open market
The Seahawks might still want Odell Beckham Jr.
But only at their price — not $7.25 million.
Seattle decided not to put a waiver claim in for the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver by Tuesday’s 1 p.m. deadline. No team did. Beckham cleared waivers and is now a free agent, as first reported by NFL Network.
This is the outcome Beckham wanted, to be able to negotiate with any team for a contract of his and that team’s choosing. Had a team claimed the 29-year-old receiver on waivers, it would have assumed his contract for the rest of this season from the Cleveland Browns. They waived him Monday.
The prorated amount left on his contract for 2021 had been $7.25 million. Rather than pay that, the Seahawks and every other team decided to consider Beckham on the open market at a lower cost for the rest of this season.
Seattle became a strong possibility to claim Beckham because it was ninth in the league’s waiver order, unusually high for this time of the year because of its 3-5 record, and the team had the space under the league’s salary cap. The Seahawks have about $12 million of cap room. Only the Jaguars, Eagles and Broncos had more cap space. Only the Jaguars were ahead of the Seahawks in the league’s waiver-claim order this week.
For that reason, many saw money as no object in this situation.
But money is always the object in the bottom-line NFL.
If the Seahawks are interested in Beckham, and coach Pete Carroll said Monday they are, they have chosen to appeal to his reported desire to play for Seattle. NBC Sports on Sunday said Beckham wants to play for the Seahawks and returning quarterback Russell Wilson.
Wilson practiced Monday after his doctor cleared him from his finger surgery last month to play for Seattle Sunday at Green Bay.
Not claiming yet still wanting Beckham runs the risk of another team now signing him to a better offer on the open market. The leveraging of perception around the league to maximize Beckham’s free-agent offers had begun even before his waiver period closed Tuesday when NFL reporter Jordan Schultz stated Beckham has “prioritized” the Green Bay Packers as his top target in free agency.
The Seahawks play the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday.
The surer bet for Seattle to have Beckham on the roster, if it wants him, would have been to claim him if the first eight teams in the waiver-wire order did not. Those first eight clubs above Seattle in waiving claiming were the Lions, Dolphins, Texans, Jaguars, Giants, Washington and the Eagles.
Monday, when coaches from New York to San Francisco stated flatly their teams were not going to claim Beckham, Carroll said this: “You’ll have to see how this all goes. But at this time ... as you would think, we are aware of what’s going on, and we’ve been involved to understand it, to compete, to know what’s happening. And we’ll let you know as it all happens.
“I’m going to wait,” Carroll said Monday.
“So I didn’t say yes or I didn’t say no. But that’s just because...you’ll see.”
The coach laughed.
“He’s a really good football player,” Carroll said. “He’s as talented as you can be, in years past, and so you’re always looking for guys that can do special stuff. “I mean, forever I have shared with you guys that we are looking for uniqueness, and people that are different than other people and give you different dimensions to their play. “So that’s what we are tying to figure out and investigate and see if there’s a chance, and all that kind of stuff.
“If it makes sense.”
Financially, it now makes more sense for the Seahawks.
Now that’s also true for the Packers, Saints, Patriots and every other NFL team potentially interested in Beckham.
Yes, Seattle has far more pressing needs, such as center, pass protection in general, running-back injuries and stopping the run. And, yes, teams can carry unused cap space from one year to apply to the following year’s salary cap, a position Seattle has really never been in at a substantial amount in 12 years under Carroll and general manager John Schneider.
But Beckham is why the Seahawks had been seeking and sticking with Josh Gordon the last couple years, through his long league suspension: a former 100-catch wide receiver with a Pro Bowl if not All-Pro pedigree who has worn out welcomes with multiple teams. Beckham is the deep-threat wide receiver outside Carroll covets for Wilson.
He comes with issues, which players available in November almost always have. He’s had only two productive seasons warranting his contract over the last five years.
He had 77 catches with six touchdowns his final year with the Giants in 2018. In his first season with Cleveland the following year, Beckham had 74 receptions and four scores. He missed 12 of 16 games in 2017 with the Giants because of injury.
He had 23 catches in 2020.
He’s had 17 receptions in six games this season. Baker Mayfield targeted him just once in his last game with the Browns, Cleveland’s home loss to Pittsburgh two weeks ago.
His last big year was 2016 with the Giants: 101 catches with 10 touchdowns.
That was now five years ago.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 1:33 PM.
