NFL Monday Preview: All Eyes On Attention Magnet, OBJ

Odell Beckham Jr. to make his Rams debut against the 49ers

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This week Monday night football matchup is a dream game for Odell Beckham Jr.

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Why? Because the newly hired Los Angeles Rams wide receiver lives to be the center of attention, because everyone’s been pointing one at him for the past week, and all eyes will be on him when he’s on the field when he makes his debut in the Los Angeles Rams. Rams against host San Francisco. 49ers (8:15 pm EST, TSN via ESPN).

Why all the fuss about “OBJ”?

First, because the Cleveland Browns last Monday ate millions of dollars to get rid of the unhappy and underperforming prima donna.

Second, because once he approved the waivers, unclaimed, on Tuesday afternoon, Beckham sat down, got offers from some traditional playoff heavyweights, and finally, on Thursday night, played with the Rams.

LA signed Beckham apparently their third wide receiver, after Cooper Kupp (who leads the NFL in both receptions and receiving yards) and Robert Woods. But wouldn’t they know? At the Beckham Rams’ first practice on Friday, Woods tore an ACL and ended the season.

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Reports over the weekend suggested that Beckham could not only return punts on his fourth full day as Ram, something he has practiced on the pros since his first rookie training camp with the New York Giants in 2014, but also as a coach at boss and chief offensive strategist. Sean McVay already has an offensive play package for Beckham.

Officially, McVay on Saturday would just say “there’s a chance” that OBJ will play the Niners.

“You can see he’s a very smart guy,” McVay said. “I like the look in his eyes, and we’ll see how he feels, and we’ll see how he looks in terms of how we can use him, if he can go on Monday.”

Woods, like Kupp, has long been praised by McVay, other Rams coaches and teammates for his tenacious and selfless skills as a field blocker on career plays. Can Beckham contribute in a similar way?
“He’s a great soccer player who can do a little bit of everything,” McVay said. “We are going to take it little by little. There are many things we are working on. “

Meanwhile, another great recent Rams acquisition, former Denver linebacker Von Miller, is not expected to play Monday night as the ankle that was injured shortly before the Nov. 2 trade is still not healed.

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@JohnKryk

Reference-torontosun.com

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