ARLINGTON, Texas — Let the Odell Beckham Jr. watch commence.
The free agent wide receiver will visit the Dallas Cowboys, his third team in the last week, on Monday and Tuesday at The Star in Frisco, Texas, where he will undergo a physical and meet with ownership, coaches and players. He is scheduled to meet with the team’s leadership council, a group of 11 Cowboys players from varying position groups, on Tuesday.
“I normally would say that anytime you can create an affirmative commitment, a belief, I think that’s good stuff, yes,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “In a business that has a lot of psychology to it, I think that’s the case. I don’t think it’s necessary for us to have success with this team and in the playoffs, but it would be a positive. I want this to work. I want it to work. But that means I’m going to be trying to make it work. So I’m going to be looking for reasons to do, not reasons not to do.”
The first part of the visit is to check on Beckham’s health. He suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Super Bowl LVI. While he is believed to be healthy, he has not worked out for either the New York Giants or Buffalo Bills. Jones would not get into what the Cowboys would ask of Beckham.
“We want to certainly see something that gives us every opportunity to have a big year this year with him,” Jones said.
The next part would be to work out a contract. According to NFLPA figures, the Cowboys have $6.3 million in salary-cap space. They can always create more room by restructuring contracts if needed. Making a multiyear deal work would be tricky. While the 2023 salary cap figure has not been set, the Cowboys have $213 million already committed to 41 players under contract, according to Roster Management.
The Cowboys have 19 players set to become unrestricted free agents when the season ends, including Tony Pollard, Dalton Schultz, Leighton Vander Esch and Donovan Wilson.
“We know where we are against next year’s cap and the next year’s cap,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “It’s just figuring out where he fits.”
If he fits contractually, then it’s figuring out how he fits on the offense.
In the last six weeks, the Cowboys offense has been among the NFL’s best, scoring 28 touchdowns. CeeDee Lamb has had two 100-yard games in the past month, and had four catches for 86 yards and a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night. Michael Gallup had his first two-touchdown game of the season on Sunday, and three Cowboys running backs scored touchdowns against the Colts: Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott and Malik Davis.
Why should Beckham join the Cowboys?
“I mean we’re winning, look at us,” Lamb said. I mean put yourself in this offense and kind of envision it. We’re distributing the ball very well and I’m sure as hell he would love it. I’m sure.”
The last big-time wide receiver the Cowboys added in-season was Amari Cooper in a trade with the Raiders in 2018. Cooper had six touchdowns and two games with at least 180 yards receiving after joining Dallas.
Dak Prescott believes getting up to speed would not be an issue for Beckham and the Cowboys.
“When you’re making a trade for a guy like that, you know how talented he is and they actually expedite that by how talented they are in creating space, being very decisive in their body language,” Prescott said, “And then just for us, it’s just about communicating with each other.”
The Cowboys have not been shy about wanting to add Beckham.
“We’re trying to be as great as we can be in every aspect,” Prescott said. “And obviously getting late into the year with what we’ve got coming up just in our schedule, then obviously making a run at the Super Bowl, you want to make sure you have as many weapons as you can. You want to make sure fully loaded in every direction and just planning for the future.”