By now, you’re surely aware of the Cowboys Golden Rule: do not trust public statements made by Jerry Jones, and especially do not trust them when they concern subjects he knows damn well are juicy enough to drive conversation, ratings, and web traffic.
Yet here I am, ready to play the rube. Because I’m starting to believe the Cowboys really are going to sign Odell Beckham Jr.
They should, mind you. We’ve been saying this team is short a wide receiver since training camp, which was pre-Noah Brown’s emergence but also pre-Jalen Tolbert’s fade into irrelevance (at least for this season). They didn’t, of course, which was par for the course with an unusually passive offseason. Despite plenty of chatter percolating about Dallas making a move for a pass catcher at last week’s trade deadline, nothing materialized then, either. All the while, Beckham was toiling away as an unsigned player while rehabbing a torn ACL suffered during the Super Bowl while playing for the Los Angeles Rams.
Cut to Sunday, when FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer revealed that Beckham is expected to be medically cleared for play by the end of the week. Suddenly the Cowboys have one last shot to add a playmaker for the stretch run of the season.
Not so coincidentally, the public charm offensive is in full swing. Yesterday, Mike McCarthy, while careful to issue the “we really love our receiver group” caveat, gushed, “All the guys from the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns, all the guys have nothing but great things to say about him. I have always been so impressed with his football-playing ability. I have heard so many excellent things about him over the years.”
Today, during his weekly media appearance on 105.3 The Fan, Jones went even further.
“Odell is someone that we have all the appreciation in the world for what he is as a competitor,” Jones said. “I know the Cowboys star on that helmet when he puts it on could look pretty good.”
And a little while ago, Micah Parsons shot his shot, too.
Even for the Cowboys, these are aggressive statements to make about a player who isn’t on their roster. Beckham has done his part, too, recently namedropping Dallas among four teams he has his eye on during a recent interview with Complex.
You can begin to see why, then, the Cowboys have shot to the top of the betting favorites to sign Beckham, edging out the Packers and a reunion with the Giants, neither of whom stand as good a chance of winning the Super Bowl (something Glazer stated was important to Beckham).
So, yeah, this all feels like it’s pointing in a certain direction. Which is why, despite myself, I’m taking the bait. I’m listening to Jerry Jones and reading between the lines. God help me.
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