Minnesota Vikings: Odell Beckham Jr. trade would be a coin toss

The Minnesota Vikings are reportedly are in talks to trade for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. but doing so would be a coin toss for how it’d work out.

Could Odell Beckham Jr. really be traded again? Last offseason, the Cleveland Browns made waves when, after weeks and months of the New York Giants denying that they would trade the star wide receiver, they sent a first-round pick to Big Blue to acquire the wide receiver (along with other draft picks and Olivier Vernon involved).

Beckham, who reportedly was dealing with an injury for most of the season, was part of the unmet hype in Cleveland in the 2019 season, however. Yes, he still caught 74 balls for 1,035 yards but managed just four touchdowns and failed to meet the numbers he put up in just 12 games with New York the previous season.

The enigmatic wideout was also the subject of rumors regarding locker room unrest in Cleveland throughout the season. And now that has led to this. On Thursday, Marc Malusis (a.k.a. Moose) of WFAN 660 in New York reported that the Browns and Minnesota Vikings have been in trade discussions regarding Odell Beckham Jr.

Minnesota would reportedly send a second and a fifth-round pick in 2021 to the Browns for the star wide receiver according to Malusis’ sources.

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As noted by Malusis, the deal is not yet done and, frankly, we don’t know how close it is to being done. It’s also worth noting that there are no bigger sources currently reporting on the possibility of the trade. Having said that, it’s still something worth monitoring given what we do know about the situation with OBJ and Cleveland.

The Vikings have already made waves with a wide receiver trade in the 2020 offseason when they traded Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills for a first-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-round pick in this year’s draft while also giving up a seventh-rounder.

So if Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman were to pull off the trade for Beckham, it would have to be considered a net win on paper. The Vikings would’ve traded Diggs, a 2020 seventh-round pick, a 2021 second-round pick and a 2021 fifth-round pick for OBJ and the aforementioned picks they received in the Diggs trade from Buffalo. That’s good business.

Furthermore, pairing Beckham and Adam Thielen together in a vacuum with Kirk Cousins and Dalvin Cook in the Vikings offense would be a dream. For as good as Diggs is, he’s not on the same tier of talent as OBJ and that would be an upgrade — while also getting a first-rounder in return.

But the NFL isn’t played on paper, which is what makes the notion of the Vikings trading for Beckham more complicated and, frankly, harder to believe. Minnesota, in large part, traded Diggs because of his diva-like antics and desire to be moved. Why then would they essentially flip him for another primadonna wide receiver, even if they get draft capital with him?

That math simply doesn’t seem to compute, especially with head coach Mike Zimmer still calling the shots. Zimmer and Diggs butted heads because of the head coach’s no-nonsense approach, so one can only imagine that he and Beckham would clash sooner rather than later as well.

Frankly, this could all just be pre-draft smoke that amounts to no fire. But if there is any legitimacy to these Odell Beckham Jr. trade rumors with him heading to the Vikings, it’s a coin toss to how it would work out for Minnesota. Yes, the draft capital they would gain in the net from the Diggs trade would be great but Beckham’s fit with the team seems less than desirable and there would be a strong chance that it would not work out in the team’s favor.