The Odell Beckham Jr. sweepstakes are heating up, as the free agent wide receiver is reportedly close to being cleared for a return to action after tearing his ACL in last year’s Super Bowl. While at least a handful of teams seem to still be weighing the idea of bringing Beckham aboard, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones made clear that Dallas is firmly in pursuit.
In a Friday appearance on SiriusXM NFL radio, Jones said that the Cowboys plan to make a “compelling case” to Beckham and “see if there’s opportunity” for the franchise “to put a star on Odell’s helmet.”
“Well, first of all, we’ve always emphasized around here that player acquisition’s 365 days a year,” Jones said. “Certainly, we played against Odell most of his career when he was with the Giants, and he’s one of those guys that, he can hurt you and I know he made a bunch of big plays against us. And he’s a free agent out there and certainly a guy that you have to be looking into in terms of how he could make our team better. Obviously, what he did for the Rams last year and their Super Bowl run, it was huge and gets to the game and it looks like he’s gonna have a MVP-type performance, and then he has the unfortunate injury.
“But, certainly, we’re always open to making our team better. To have a guy like Odell Beckham if he’s recovered from his knee, which it sounds like he has, is a great way to make your team better. So it’s natural that we would have interest in that. And certainly, like any free agent, he can go anywhere he wants in terms of all 32. But we want to make our compelling case. And certainly at the end of the day it’s about business as well. So we’ll just roll up our sleeves and see if there’s an opportunity for us to put a star on Odell’s helmet.”
The statement makes the reports that have trickled out about Dallas’s interest in Beckham even more official. Just earlier this week, owner Jerry Jones didn’t shut down questions about the former Pro Bowler and even admitted that Beckham would look “pretty good” with a Cowboys star on his helmet.
The interest from the front office is coupled with interest from various players in the locker room, who have courted Beckham throughout this week. Micah Parsons openly recruited Beckham on Twitter, Ezekiel Elliott explicitly said that the team “wants OBJ,” and Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb lauded Beckham’s talents when asked about the team’s pursuit.
The Cowboys were among that teams that Beckham mentioned when discussing the ideal situation for his next stop in football. With teams like the Bills, Packers, Chiefs and Giants also reportedly expressing interest, Dallas will need to act decisively if they hope to bring Beckham aboard for the stretch run.
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