Hasselbeck: Culture, leadership make Seahawks ‘great fit’ for Odell Beckham Jr.

Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is now a free agent after the Seahawks and 30 other teams passed on him in the waiver wire on Tuesday, and it remains to be seen where the three-time Pro Bowl receiver will land in free agency.

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Beckham reportedly has a veteran minimum offer with the Green Bay Packers on the table, and he’s also said to have been in talks with the New Orleans Saints, the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots.

The Seahawks, who ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported Sunday were the favorites to land Beckham in free agency, are still talking to Beckham’s camp, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake Heaps.

One issue that came up with Beckham in terms of being claimed was his salary, which was for over $7 million for the remainder of 2021 had he been claimed. The Seahawks were one of a few teams that could have afforded to give him that much, but now it appears he’ll make much less for the remainder of the year.

Former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck joined 710 ESPN Seattle’s Mike Salk for the weekly Matt Hasselbeck Show Wednesday morning and discussed the Seahawks being a fit for Beckham, the money signing him would take and more.

As far as cash goes, Hasselbeck has a hard time seeing Beckham earning much more than a veteran minimum contract for the final nine weeks of the season.

“Quite honestly why would you (offer more)?” Hasselbeck asked. “No offense to him. He’s got tremendous potential, but just run the numbers. The numbers aren’t great of late and he’s been banged up a ton … This is an opportunity for him to kind of reinvent himself and do a ‘prove-it,’ half-year deal and then maybe get paid at the end of the year.”

Hasselbeck thinks the Seahawks would be a good landing spot for Beckham, though, because of the locker room.

“I think the Seahawks are one of the teams where the culture is strong, the leadership is strong (at) head coach and quarterback,” he said. “I think that’d be a great fit in terms of, ‘Could we take this guy and his potential and his talent and put him in our program and could he flourish? Could he help us?’ I do think the Seahawks are one of the teams that could handle that.”

But there are a few reasons the Seahawks may not be interested.

“It’s just a matter of the money and if they have other priorities in other places, and sometimes, you don’t really know, but they might feel really, really good about someone that they see in practice that they’re evaluating that they feel like bringing in a veteran like Odell could maybe stifle that person’s growth and potential,” he said.

Salk also had Albert Breer of SI.com on his show Wednesday morning, and Breer said he thinks that a team’s quarterback needs to be more famous than Beckham because he’s had an “element of control” the last few years over Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield that’s “allowed him to run wild.” Breer compared it to Randy Moss going to New England and not being able to operate that way because of Tom Brady.

Hasselbeck said it’s not just about that but that having strong leadership helps. He said at some point Beckham needs to look in the mirror to help answer why things aren’t going right in his career, and he needs to land in a strong organization like the Seahawks or Patriots.

“I think Odell Beckham, he’s kind of in an 0-2 pitch count right now where… there’s no situation where it’s going to be completely perfect,” Hasselbeck said.

One reported issue teams may have with Beckham is related to his character and reputation. Hasselbeck thinks some of that is overblown.

“I have heard glowing reports about what he was like as a teammate, the kind of competitor he was and that kind of stuff,” he told Salk “… I do believe that his reputation as someone that you could plug into a good culture is actually pretty good.”

Listen to the full episode of The Matt Hasselbeck Show at this link or in the player below.

Related: Heaps – In favor of adding OBJ | Huard – Makes ‘no football sense’ for Hawks

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