The latest Raven, vast receiver Odell Beckham Jr., took questions for greater than 35 minutes at his introductory information convention Thursday, discussing why he selected Baltimore, the state of his rehabilitated knee and quarterback Lamar Jackson’s future with the franchise.
Flanked by coach John Harbaugh and normal supervisor Eric DeCosta, Beckham commanded this new stage just like the star he’s. But what did we really study from his phrases? Here are three takeaways:
The Ravens wooed Odell Beckham Jr. not simply with cash, however by making him really feel wished.
Owner Steve Bisciotti closed this deal.
DeCosta had pitched Beckham and his agent, Zeke Sandhu, since final October, when it appeared as if the three-time Pro Bowl choice may play the previous couple of weeks of the 2022 season. “We went into it knowing we were underdogs,” DeCosta stated Thursday.
With the New York Jets and Los Angeles Rams nonetheless pursuing Beckham over the previous month, that may have remained the case had Bisciotti not reached out to the star vast receiver immediately. After they spoke, Beckham stated he texted Sandhu: “I want to be a Raven.”
“Him reaching out was probably what put it over the edge,” Beckham stated Thursday. “We just chopped it up as two men talking.”
Bisciotti backed his phrases with $15 million in assured cash, greater than another workforce appeared more likely to pay for a 30-year-old move catcher who missed your entire 2022 season as he recovered from surgical procedure on his torn ACL. We can be silly to low cost money as a motivator for the deal, however Beckham talked time and again about how the Ravens made him really feel wished. Their ardor for him was evident from Bisciotti’s direct involvement.
“After two minutes in Arizona sitting across the table from him, I had no doubt this was the right guy for our team,” DeCosta stated, bringing an emotional tinge to his description of negotiating with Beckham.
This signing appeared to imply extra to the workforce’s mind belief than your typical little bit of offseason enterprise. Perhaps it’s as a result of Bisciotti and DeCosta imagine Beckham will flip the tide in extension negotiations with Jackson, who celebrated the transfer on social media. Perhaps it’s as a result of Beckham turned the primary celebrity vast receiver in a very long time to take the Ravens’ cash after years of discuss that their offense was a graveyard for aerial manufacturing. Perhaps it’s as a result of the franchise merely wanted a public relations win after months of gloomy headlines round Jackson.
Beckham’s introduction introduced a crackle to the workforce’s facility at Owings Mills. He flashed his megawatt smile as he watched his younger son play within the workforce auditorium. A sturdy crowd of reporters shouted over each other to pose questions. He answered every with ease and humor. Beckham made Baltimore really feel like middle stage.
“It’s good to be where you feel wanted,” he stated.
The good will may dissipate if Beckham suffers one other damage or if he turns into dissatisfied together with his place within the workforce’s offense, elements that led to his breakups with different franchises. For now, nevertheless, the Ravens have made him really feel the love he sought, and he has given them a jolt of optimism in unsure occasions.
Jackson helped convey Beckham to the Ravens, however there’s no assure they’ll play collectively.
It’s unattainable to evaluate the Beckham signing exterior the better context of the Ravens’ quest to signal their quarterback to a long-term deal. They introduced their settlement with Beckham 13 days after Jackson tweeted that he had requested a commerce on March 2. Jackson’s enthusiasm about his attainable new goal — expressed in a FaceTime name they shared Sunday — was the primary check in months that he may nonetheless be desirous to pursue a Super Bowl with the Ravens.
It wouldn’t make sense for the Ravens to spend $15 million for one season of labor from a veteran move catcher in the event that they’re not planning to chase a championship with Jackson as their centerpiece.
Beckham acknowledged that the prospect of enjoying with Jackson was a promoting level: “The goal was to come here and have that possibility.”
He was additionally cautious to say Jackson supplied him no assurances he can be throwing passes for the Ravens come September. “I would assume it’s going to work out,” Beckham stated, noting he was assured that Harbaugh and DeCosta wish to construct round Jackson, who has the best to signal a proposal sheet with one other workforce beneath the $32.4 million nonexclusive franchise tag the Ravens positioned on him final month.
DeCosta and Harbaugh reiterated their dedication to Jackson. “We only think of Lamar as the quarterback of this team,” DeCosta stated.
Beckham grew up rooting for Michael Vick and stated it’s thrilling to contemplate hooking up with Vick’s stylistic successor in Jackson. He dismissed criticisms of the Ravens’ passing offense, saying it’s apparent to him Jackson could make any throw on the sector.
At the identical time, he shared a few of his hard-won perspective on the enterprise of soccer, gleaned from his scrutinized extension negotiations with the New York Giants earlier in his profession.
“It’s a very thin line and it’s your heart that’s involved,” he stated. “You feel like you’ve done so much and you deserve this, and then the business side gets in the way. It’s just the nature of the business we’re in. There’s no written script for it or how to handle it or how to deal with it. But I could definitely tell he was excited about the opportunity to get to work [together] if that does present itself. At the end of the day, he’s obviously who I’d love to play with.”
In different phrases, the Beckham signing may need parted the clouds across the Ravens’ stalled negotiations with their most necessary participant, however it’s not a one-dose elixir for a standoff that has annoyed either side.
The Ravens and Beckham are assured his knee will likely be good to go when the common season begins in 5 months.
Beckham described the “bittersweet” expertise of catching a landing move in Super Bowl 56 solely to reinjure his ACL earlier than he may full the victorious mission together with his teammates. He lived by means of “dark days” within the aftermath of his surgical procedure, his second on the knee he initially injured whereas enjoying for the Cleveland Browns in 2020.
Health is the second best query, after Jackson’s standing, hovering over the Ravens’ Beckham experiment. He has performed a full season simply as soon as since 2016.
DeCosta dispatched move sport specialist Keith Williams to observe Beckham work out in Arizona final month. “We saw everything we needed to see,” he stated. “Knowing that it’s only going to get better.”
Beckham stated he lately turned a nook towards feeling totally wholesome and agreed with DeCosta that a further 5 months of preparation will likely be invaluable. “I’m not worried about coming back from this,” he stated. “I came back from it before.”
That was a key level for DeCosta. He watched Beckham appear to be “the best player on the field in the Super Bowl” about 16 months after he harm his knee the primary time. Beckham stated his ACL was by no means totally wholesome as he put collectively that triumphant run for the Rams. His implication appeared clear: If he may assist ship a championship on a bum ligament, what may he do that yr, after 19 months spent strengthening his knee?
DeCosta, for one, expressed no reservations: “This was the guy we felt could take us to the next level.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com