Odell Beckham Jr to the Dallas Cowboys is still a very real thing

Two weeks ago, Odell Beckham Jr to the Dallas Cowboys news was at a fever pitch. Odell Beckham was on the cusp of getting cleared for action and the last remaining available free agent on the market. Plus, the NFL Trade Deadline had come and gone and Dallas’ top targets stayed in their respective cities.

Keep in mind, after serious talks with the Broncos and Texans stalled out over compensation, the Dallas Cowboys made their desire known they wanted to add a top WR to their ranks. It wasn’t “at all costs” but it was clearly serious and not the traditional low-balling Stephen Jones’s Cowboys have grown notorious for.

The Dallas Cowboys are still favorites to land Odell Beckham Jr. and neither their winning streak nor OBJ’s airport fiasco will impact that.

These are not your dad’s Dallas Cowboys. Heck, these aren’t even last year’s Dallas Cowboys. These are the new pseudo-retro Dallas  Cowboys. Instead of spreading it out and running heavy 11 personnel (3WR sets) every down, the Cowboys offense has been reverting to more 12 and 13 personnel (2 and 3 TE sets).

That’s not to say 11 personnel isn’t still a major part of the offensive attack. Given the defenses looks this season, the passing game just plays a smaller role than it has in the past and it’s effectiveness has now fallen behind the multiple TE packages.

With CeeDee Lamb on track for a career year and Michael Gallup getting better by the week, one may think a third WR is unneeded, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. This is the time of the year where resilient teams win and having the ability to adapt and/r overcome injury is enormous.

Just because the Dallas Cowboys like multiple TE sets doesn’t mean they don’t have need for 11 personnel. +3WR is still heavily preferable in obvious passing downs and the most common package in the NFL. Noah Brown, the Dallas Cowboys WR3, has 516 snaps this season. As a rotational guy, injury replacement, WR3, he’s been on the field 77% of the snaps.

Still think the third receiver doesn’t matter?

Getting someone like Odell Beckham instantly upgrades that WR3. Whether OBJ fits in at WR2 or takes WR3 doesn’t really matter. What matters is the top-3 WRs improve as a whole.

Odell Beckham is slated to visit the Dallas Cowboys on December 5th, which is far later than many were thinking two weeks ago when Dallas was first honing in. And just this past weekend OBJ has found himself in trouble with airport authorities.

None of this really matters. The incident in questions seems like a lot about nothing and Beckham’s late visit and potential late season signing doesn’t mean much either.

Beckham is a tenured NFL WR who has been physically cleared to return. He doesn’t need two months to figure out the system, he just needs a ramp up for the playoffs. Additionally, he’s likely coming on a multi-year deal so this is only 10% about THIS regular season and primarily about the postseason and games in future seasons.

The Dallas Cowboys are still the odds on favorites to sign Odell Beckham Jr this season from a pure talent perspective, that’s a very good thing.