The football community chased ghosts for a day after two sports radio hosts stirred the pot on Odell Beckham Jr. trade rumors — with the Vikings prominently mentioned in one report.
The claims have since been strongly refuted first by reporters, most notably Yahoo’s Charles Robinson, then Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who called them “completely false.”
“It’s frustrating, obviously,” DePodesta told reporters in a pre-draft conference call. “It’s pretty clear what we’re trying to build. The idea that we’d take away from that core doesn’t make sense and is not something we’re exploring.”
The rumors were first initiated on WFAN’s “Moose and Maggie” when co-host Marc Malusis reported on Wednesday morning that the Browns were discussing a deal that would send Beckham “to the Vikings for a 2nd and 5th round pick next year.”
Drama escalated further when hot-take artist extraordinaire Colin Cowherd claimed he had a source that told him Beckham was onboard with leaving Cleveland.
“Deal’s done! The deal is done,” Cowherd proclaimed jubilantly on Fox Sports’ “The Herd” of the Beckham-Vikings rumors. “So you know the source that gave me the ‘Tom Brady to Tampa Bay’ story, you guys know about that? I don’t know if you’ve heard — I broke the story, yeah. And anyhoo, no big deal, the same source just texted me OBJ wants out.”
Cowherd was in fact among the first to break the Brady-to-Buccaneers news. However, the notion Beckham is unhappy in Cleveland isn’t exactly novel, and the subsequent hours that followed were rife with speculation over whether there was any credence to Malusis’ or Cowherd’s reports. The Browns receiver had expressed his dissatisfaction with the team multiple times last season by shouting “come get me” to opposing teams.
His frustration, though, may have been focused at then head coach Freddie Kitchens, who was replaced by former Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski this offseason. Beckham has lauded Stefanski’s past work with receivers Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs and is optimistic about his place in the offense.
“Just seeing the things that he did and meeting him and seeing where his mind’s at for Jarvis [Landry] and myself of how this will all work out,” Beckham told Complex Sports shortly after he was hired. “I have a good feeling about it, you know?”
“Odell’s a very talented football player,” general manager Andrew Berry told reporters at the combine. “We view him as a part of our future. Kevin and I have both had really good conversations about our expectations for him and we expect him to adapt to those moving forward. We’re excited about the future with Odell. Excited about what he’s going to do this fall.”