By Russ Weakland
|
64
View
comments
DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that Odell Beckham Jr. wants to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs, sparking a possible awkward reunion between his new beau Kim Kardashian and Travis Kelce‘s girlfriend Taylor Swift.
Beckham joined the Ravens last year on a one-year contract worth $15million but Baltimore spread out the hit by paying $13.835m as a signing bonus and included four void years. Beckham’s 2024 salary cap charge is $3,977,000.
A number of the NFL’s star free agents have already been snapped up after a hectic week of moves but a deal is proving harder to come by for Beckham Jr. – who won the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.
DailyMail.com understands that Beckham is commanding a high price for his services, given this will likely be his final pay day in football before the 31-year-old eventually retires.
However, teams are unwilling to meet his demands given his injury history and age.
Odell Beckham Jr. (right) wants to sign with Travis Kelce (left) and the Kansas City Chiefs
It could prompt an awkward reunion between Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift at Arrowhead
The Chiefs are known to want to improve their receiving unit this offseason, given Patrick Mahomes and his offense struggled for large parts of last year before eventually clicking at the right time to win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
But if they do opt to offer terms to Beckham Jr. it would mean long-term rivals Kardashian and Swift will be supporting the same team next season.
Beckham Jr. and Kardashian added to growing speculation about their romance last week by heading to Chateau Marmont for Jay-Z and Beyonce’s post-Oscars party.
It remains to be seen whether they would watch games together in a suite at Arrowhead Stadium next season but Swift has been a regular presence at Kelce’s games since going public with their relationship last year.
A source has exclusively told DailyMail.com: ‘Odell will sign with someone in the next few days.
‘Though he would like to get a multi-year deal, some teams are apprehensive because he is very injury-prone and he might have to consider a two-year deal instead.
‘Odell’s wants are not meshing with teams right now and someone is going to have to break, and when it comes to the NFL, it’s likely Odell will have to break and concede first.
‘Odell wants a huge contract that has tons of money behind it and years attached to it because this is his last chance to get a good contract and also likely his last contract in the NFL.
‘But NFL teams know that while Odell is still a great player, they could get someone younger and cheaper. We will see in the next few days who is playing chess and who is playing checkers.
‘He wants to join Kansas City but taking the best contract with the most money is Odell’s current thought process. Everyone wants to win, but money wins overall.’
Beckham joined the Ravens last year on a one-year deal worth $15m but is now a free agent
Swift has been a regular at Chiefs games – including the Super Bowl – to support her boyfriend
The source continued: ‘Odell is going to have to dig in his heels a little longer than he originally expected as his ego outweighs the demand for his services.
‘He would love to sign with a team by this weekend but as originally thought to be the case, there are now a few bumps in the road as teams are spending money on other needs over an aging wide receiver with ACL issues and who is asking for too much money.
‘It is looking like this is turning out to be more of a soap opera than originally expected. Odell is getting frustrated with the process.’
Beckham Jr. landed in Baltimore last year after returning from an ACL injury, which he sustained during the LA Rams’ Super Bowl victory in 2022 and ruled him out of the entire 2022-23 season.
However, despite being a Super Bowl winner, he recorded just 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns with the Ravens last season, leaving many to believe the Ravens overpaid for him.
However, whether Kim will sit alongside Taylor and her Chiefs WAG pals Brittany Mahomes and Lindsay Bell is doubtful, given the two A-Listers’ long-standing feud.
The bitter history between the two began in 2016 when Kim’s ex-husband, rapper Kanye West, released his 2016 track ‘Famous’ which included a vulgar reference to Swift in the lyrics.
Kim attended the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, while Taylor supported Kelce and the Chiefs
Taylor, understandably, took offense. However, Kanye defended the line, claiming he had a phone conversation with Taylor and that she had consented to the lyric ahead of time, which she denied.
Taylor continued to accuse Kanye of lying which prompted Kim to release a partial recording of the call in question. Taylor hit back, claiming that while Kanye spoke through some of the lyrics, he never said that he would call her a ‘b***h.’
Taylor opened up on the ordeal during her interview with TIME last year, after she was named the magazine’s Person of the Year in December.
She said that the public fallout felt like ‘a career death,’ adding: ‘Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me.’
Referring to release of the recorded conversation she added: ‘You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.’
‘That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls.’
Your browser does not support iframes.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
