Odell Beckham Jr. is coming off a torn ACL suffered in Super Bowl 56. That’s stunted his outlook for 2022, but he remains one of the highest profile free agents still available on the open market.
The Los Angeles Rams, the backdrop to his post-Cleveland revival last fall, already had an inside track at signing the former All-Pro wide receiver thanks to his familiarity with the team’s offense. His relationship with head coach Sean McVay won’t just give him a chance to re-sign in LA — it gave him a chance to crash his head coach’s wedding, gruffle some a kilogram of bacon-wrapped shrimp and show off his surgically repaired knee on the dance floor.
McVay talking about the time OBJ crashed his wedding 😂
(via @IAMATHLETEpod) pic.twitter.com/G1GK6shBLI
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) June 7, 2022
Beckham only joined the Rams in November, leaving him out of the running for a rare invite to the young coach’s wedding — by McVay’s account, only the team’s captains and a select few veterans got save the dates. That didn’t stop OBJ from showing up anyway, much to everyone’s delight.
“Odell and I had a great relationship. I mean, I love Odell, and so only in Odell’s fashion could he be the wedding crasher at our wedding,” McVay told the I AM ATHLETE podcast. “So O showed up, crashed the wedding and I loved it that he was still there. Even my mom, she said, ‘Aw, he’s so nice. And gosh, he is handsome in person.’”
That doesn’t mean McVay didn’t try to leverage his potential WR2’s arrival into a boost for Los Angeles’ upcoming title defense.
“I said, ‘You crashed my wedding, you re-sign with the Rams then, man.’ That’s a given right there.”
The 36-year-old coach also noted Beckham looked “smooth” on the dance floor, at one point even compelling the team’s doctor to ask him to take it easy on his still-rehabbing knee.
Beckham had just 27 catches in eight regular season games as a Ram, but showcased his value in the playoffs. He had at least 52 receiving yards in each of LA’s postseason games, including a nine catch, 113-yard performance in the NFC title game.
Though his momentum was derailed by that first half torn ACL in the Super Bowl, he proved he’s still got plenty in the tank. After showing up uninvited to McVay’s wedding, the Rams hope that’s a sign he’ll be back in 2022.
