Odell Beckham Jr. handed the Dallas Cowboys the reason to sign T.Y. Hilton

Tony Ding (Hilton); Stacy Bengs (Beckham)/Associated Press

Jerry Jones said he had not given up on Odell Beckham when the player gave him a reason to do just that.

After the Dallas Cowboys’ win over the Houston Texans on Sunday in Arlington, Jerry told the Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill that OBJ is still on the radar when Jerry was asked if this pursuit is over.

“Not at all. Put a big exclamation on that,” Jones said “That’s all I got on that.”

Jerry often says he reserves the right to change his mind. So maybe he wasn’t quite lying.

The Dallas Cowboys wisely looked at OBJ, and decided they were done once he handed them a reason not to sign him.

Rather than go with OBJ, the team signed former Indianapolis Colts veteran wideout T.Y. Hilton. The team announced the add on Monday.

Keep your expectations low.

T.Y. ain’t OBJ.

Hilton is 32, hasn’t played this season, and dealt with injuries last year with the Colts.

He is also a better option than Beckham for one reason. He can play football, and wants to play football.

The Odell Beckham 2022 Freeload Tour should never have been.

As part of his tour, the free agent wide receiver conned Jerry and the Cowboys into court side tickets to watch Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks last week.

OBJ probably got some Luka swag, and a some free expensive meals out of it, too.

No sports journalist can rip on OBJ for freeloading. Probably can learn a thing or two from the man.

Once the Cowboys medical staff had a look, this process needed to end.

Once he took to a microphone, no NFL team could possibly be serious about looking at OBJ until the summer.

This fool all but handed the Cowboys, and any other NFL team remotely interested in his services, the reason to avoid him like an annoying relative at Christmas.

The football player said he doesn’t want to play football.

A few days after visiting with the Cowboys, OBJ told Amazon’s NFL broadcast crew, “I’m not saying I couldn’t step in and play regular season, but I don’t see the point. I really don’t. I’d rather play when that pressure’s on.”

He wasn’t kidding.

He was sincere.

Somewhere his agent threw his iPhone through his iTV.

Don’t ever give a player a dime, much less a trillion dimes, who does not want to play immediately.

That Odell is not saying he wants to play any NFL game today says everything about this player. Even if he can’t go, he needs to say, “I’d play on one leg if they’ll let me.”

The point is he’s a football player who doesn’t want to play football games.

Odell suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, 2022. Of course he’s not ready to return.

We were all fooling ourselves on this, because the fantasy was fun.

The Cowboys had no choice but to look elsewhere.

No matter how badly Jerry wanted to will this OBJ fantasy into reality, the man can’t play yet.

OBJ is 30, and trying to play what would be his ninth NFL season. He has injured the same leg four times.

Also, he said he doesn’t want to play yet.

T.Y. Hilton wants to give it another shot.

Don’t expect too much.

But at least he wants to play.

Advertisement