Report: Seahawks Made "Strongest Offer" to Odell Beckham Jr.

The Seahawks made the “strongest” offer to Rams receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in free agency last week, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Saturday. Per Fowler, other NFC West interest existed with the Cardinals contacting Beckham’s camp as well. 

It’s especially clear that Beckham’s signing with Los Angeles on a one-year, $1.25 million deal was motivated by other reasons—not solely financial. As Fowler tweeted, the Rams “added heavy incentives because they wanted the player, but they also had to ensure no other NFC West team got him.” 

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport had this figure at $3 million at the time of signing.

There are various other possible factors to Beckham’s decision to decline a move to the Pacific Northwest. For instance, the sprawling, celebrity-packed, sunny Los Angeles may have proved more appealing over cold and wet Seattle.

Narrative-wise, the Seahawks are also viewed as a run-first, run-heavy team. Pete Carroll’s PR department has taken repeated blows and was certainly not helped by certain offseason shenanigans.

With Russell Wilson at quarterback, this "run-run-run" mentality has not been true in recent games. Prior to Wilson’s injury, Seattle's pass-run splits were trending towards the 60 percent mark in favor of the pass.

Moreover, Wilson’s return versus the Packers brought with it a 67.5 percent neutral pass rate and astonishingly high figures of a 63 percent pass rate on first down, plus a 77 percent pass rate on second down. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron wants to pass.

Cold figures aside, it’s clear that Beckham was heavily influenced by the perceived style of each pitching offense. Indeed, ESPN’s Dianna Russini's Rams source went as far to mention the passing rate of Los Angeles' attack.