Colts: Should Odell Beckham Jr. trade be on radar before deadline?

The Indianapolis Colts’ offense has the potential to be one of the best in the AFC next season, though we’d feel a lot better about their ceiling if they had a star receiver.

That obviously isn’t to say we don’t think highly of the Colts’ receiving corps — you’d be hard-pressed to list many teams with a deeper unit — but if you look at the final four teams standing from last year, each of them had a superstar wideout on offense.

Speaking strictly in terms of No. 1 options, the Buccaneers have Mike Evans, the Chiefs have Tyreek Hill, the Bills have Stefon Diggs and the Packers have Davante Adams.

The Colts were reluctant to make a splash on a premium receiver this offseason, but could that change if the right option became available ahead of the 2021 deadline? We certainly like to think so, and Browns star Odell Beckham Jr. comes to mind as a potential target.

A trade for Odell Beckham Jr. should be on the Colts’ radar in 2021.

It didn’t take a football savant to grasp that the Browns’ offense functioned better after Beckham suffered a torn ACL in Week 7. The three-time Pro Bowler has never looked like a good fit with Cleveland since he arrived via trade during the 2019 offseason. Not only that, but his chemistry with quarterback Baker Mayfield has left a lot to be desired.

Nobody in their right mind would argue that Jarvis Landry is more talented than Beckham, but it isn’t an accident he’s been significantly more productive with the Browns than his former LSU teammate. And for anybody claiming Landry benefits from the attention OBJ commands from opposing defenses, he led the team in receiving after Week 7 and it wasn’t all that close.

Though Mayfield is capable of winning a game on his own, the Browns are clearly intent on feeding Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt all the carries they can handle, and rightly so given that they’ve formed one of the most prolific RB tandems in the league.

With Chubb and Hunt as the undisputed focal points of Cleveland’s offense, OBJ has often found himself as a distant fourth option, which is a crime given his superstar talent. While the Colts’ offense is built similarly, you better believe Frank Reich would emphasize (not force-feed, obviously) getting the former first-round pick the ball.

Again, the Colts have an incredibly balanced WR corps, but TY Hilton, Parris Campbell, Michael Pittman Jr. and Zach Pascal might struggle to accentuate Carson Wentz’s arm strength. That wouldn’t be a question with Beckham and his blistering speed in the fold.

This is all contingent on whether the Browns would make Beckham available, and how much they’d ask in return for him if they did, but adding a certified No. 1 option for Wentz has to be Indy’s top priority at the deadline if the passing game doesn’t hit the ground running.

Beckham could be the answer to all their speculated problems.

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