Dolphins waive Odell Beckham Jr. after just nine games

Chris Perkins, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Dec 13, 2024

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Dolphins announced Friday morning that they’ve waived wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., a move that ends his brief career with the team after just nine games.

Beckham, the once-spectacular player who was most famous for the one-handed touchdown catch he made while with the New York Giants, would end his time with the Dolphins with just nine receptions for 55 yards and no touchdowns.

Beckham, according to a NFL Network report, is hoping for a better opportunity elsewhere. That report said Beckham and the Dolphins “mutually agreed to part ways.”

Coach Mike McDaniel confirmed that account.

“Conversations led us to determine it was the best for both parties,” to part ways, McDaniel said Friday.

McDaniel said he wasn’t surprised by Beckham’s desire to leave because they’ve had an open line of communication all season.

“When you communicate transparently, I can kind of know where’s he’s at,” he said.

McDaniel, whose team faces the Houston Texans on Sunday, said he has no regrets about signing Beckham.

“No regrets,” he said. “My only regrets are we’re not talking more about the Texans.”

Beckham, who signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Dolphins, missed the first four games this season while on the physically-unable-to-perform list. He’s still owed $200,000, according to NFL Network.

Beckham, who has battled a few knee problems in recent years, didn’t have his first practice with the Dolphins until Oct. 3 because he was recovering from an offseason knee procedure.

Beckham, a 2014 first-round pick of the Giants out of LSU, was supposed to fill the role of No. 3 wide receiver for the Dolphins, playing the slot position to form a dynamic threesome alongside Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. But that never happened.

When Beckham spoke after his first practice he hinted his life had numerous recent complications.

“I think a lot of people don’t know exactly what I was going through,” Beckham said. “Ending the season, there was a lot going on in my life, personal life, businesses, all of that. It just kind of had me in a place where football wasn’t exactly a priority.

“Then, I had to have a small clean-up, like, of the knee, and just kind of going through that free-agency process, my agent and I went back and forth on whether we do it right after the season or we wait until free agency happens. I just feel like I waited too late.”

Beckham’s acquisition was a hopeful reach. Last season with Baltimore he had 35 receptions for 565 yards and three touchdowns and there was a thought he could post similar numbers playing with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and in a system created by coach Mike McDaniel.

But that was his best season since 2019, when he totaled 74 receptions for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns in Cleveland. That ended a stretch during which Beckham, known as OBJ, posted 1,000-yard receiving seasons in five of his first six years in the league.

Beckham spent his first five seasons with the Giants, where he rose to spectacular popularity. Then it was three seasons with Cleveland, one year with the Rams and last year with Baltimore.

Beckham’s best stretch with the Dolphins was the three-game run of the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders. During that stretch he totaled seven receptions for 45 yards.

Beckham, 32, is the third player over 30 whose signing didn’t work out for the Dolphins, joining edge rusher Shaq Barrett, 32, who suddenly retired before training camp and recently asked to be reinstated to the league, and safety Marcus Maye, 31, who was released a few weeks ago.

Defensive lineman Calais Campbell, 38, is an example of a veteran whose signing worked out well. Campbell has been one of the Dolphins’ top performers this season. The other players over 30 signed in the offseason are safety Jordan Poyer (33) and edge rusher Emmanuel Ogbah (31).