THOUSAND OAKS, CA — Rams general manager Les Snead discussed several items regarding the recent Odell Beckham Jr. signing include the chemistry in the locker room with his new team and primarily the wide receiver core.
“The neat thing in Odell’s process is winning was important to him,” Snead said. “And we were a team that offered that chance.”
The culture that was created by the Rams since their return to Los Angeles in 2016 has been remarkable. In the locker room no matter who the names were on the back of the jerseys, they all played with a “we not me” mentality. Questions have surfaced based upon Beckham being an ultimate competitor, how would he fit into the Rams culture?
“Odell wanted to come here and contribute to do his part knowing it was going to be phased in,” Snead said. “There is no way you can come to a team in the middle of year and be 100% phased in.”
If the Rams felt any inkling that there would be chemistry issues, they wouldn’t have inquired about him. However Snead and the Rams are confident that this acquisition will work in their favor yet understand the chemistry will take time to come together. A move the team felt they needed to make in absence of rookie TE Jacob Harris and WR Tutu Atwell who are both out for the year due to injury, and the recent departure of wide receiver Desean Jackson.
“In the last two weeks, we lost three receivers, two to injury and Desean asked to be traded or waived. So all of a sudden, there is a wave in the last two weeks that cut into our depth and we are a team that runs a lot of 11 personnel,” Snead explained. “We joked it might be easier to acquire Odell Beckham Jr. than Josh Reynolds based on where we were in the calendar year.“
Beckham isn’t the first player who comes to the team with question marks as it pertains to character, however several previous players who had some question marks came into the Rams locker room and contributed to be an outstanding cast.
He was heavily recruited by CB Jalen Ramsey who happened to pass the phone to the receivers in the room.
“He did not want to come to the Rams until he chatted with our wide receiver group. Until he, let’s call it, really got their blessing. ‘Hey are y’all good with me coming to be apart of this 2021 journey?‘. That was a neat part of, let’s call it his vetting process of wanting to come,” Snead said.
It’s great to see the players on one accord with upper management in order to gain the players necessary to complete the process of competing for a Super Bowl, these measures must pay off in a big way. If they do this arguably be the best signing we’ve seen in a very long time.
