Bears inside the top 8 odds-on favorites to land this superstar receiver
When the off-season started, the two main positions everyone inside Bears Nation wanted the Bears to bolster were the Offensive line and wide receiver. Did they do that? Kinda...
Lucas Patrick was a great addition at Center. Byron Pringle is a very solid player that should be a great contributor at receiver. However, besides those two additions, GM Ryan Poles has been pretty quiet...
Well, according to Fox Sports Bet, the Bears are currently the 7th favorite team to land superstar WR Odell Beckham Jr. Yes I said it, SUPERSTAR. Make no mistake about it, OBJ is still amazing at football. He showed everyone in the NFL last year that he still had a lot of gas left in the tank.
The thing is that Odell is coming off a torn ACL. I know that this is not a small thing, but it's still not as bad as it was 10 years ago. We have seen athletes come back way faster than they used to from knee injuries. Odell could be back somewhere around week 4-7. This would not be terrible.
Odell was once the face of the New York Giants, and you could almost make a case for him being the face of the league. He was absolutely spectacular in his first five seasons as a Giants. He was then traded, and he went through some tough times in Cleveland. His quarterback, Baker Mayfield, was simply bad for most of his tenure, and Odell was blamed for all the problems in Cleveland. OBJ also didn't seem to be a natural fit in the city of Cleveland.
Then happened his move to go to the Los Angeles Rams. Odell has been nothing short of great in LA. He played well and was very efficient during the regular season. He then reasserted himself as a top receiver in the league in the playoffs. He played a huge role in his team's 3 wins. He compiled 236 yards in 20 catches. The most impressive stat in my mind is that he caught over 82% of his target in the playoff so far. One thing is for certain: OBJ is far from being done.
Can this really happen?
It is a real possibility that Odell stays put in Los Angeles with a team that he truly fits in well. However, he might be tempted to test his value in the open market. A team like the Bears could maybe offer him a 2 to 3 years contract in the area of $12-14 million per year. That could be a great fit for both parties. The Bears desperately need an outside receiver and Odell plays over 80% of his snap at the outside position. If you pair him with Darnell Mooney for the next couple of years, you could have something special around Justin Fields.
