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Odell Beckham Jr. rocked the NFL this week when he decided to take his talents to the West Coast and be a part of the Los Angeles Rams. His decision came down to the Green Bay Packers and Rams, but the Packers reportedly lowballed him with a minimum contract. What's not to like about playing for the Rams, though? There is a consistently good quarterback with Matthew Stafford. Odell Beckham Jr. joins an offense with Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods (when healthy) and a defense with Jalen Ramsey, Von Miller and Aaron Donald. The Rams are lined up for a playoff run and have recently played in a Super Bowl, compared to the past two teams Odell Beckham Jr. has played for. However, there was one hiccup when the Rams and OBJ were trying to finalize the deal...jersey number.
Now that Odell Beckham Jr. moved to the Rams, what number will he wear?
The jersey number is sacred to football players, as most of them tend to wear the same number through high school to the pros. There are sometimes cases where there is an argument between teammates over a specific number, with some people even paying to get their number. Odell Beckham has been #13 in the NFL, but backup quarterback John Wolford owns it and it's too late to change it this season. In college, OBJ was #3 at LSU, but that belongs to running back Cam Akers...or at least it used to.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on the jersey number issue as being one of the only holdups in the contract negotiations. #13 and #3 were unavailable, but there were rumors that Odell Beckham Jr. could take #1 instead, which belonged to wide receiver DeSean Jackson earlier this season. However, the Rams are saying that Odell Beckham will be wearing #3 this season.
It's unclear what took place behind the scenes to get OBJ #3. Cam Akers is on the PUP list with an Achilles injury with the potential to return if the Rams make the playoffs. However, that won't be the case, as it is too late for a player to change a jersey number. That means Cam Akers won't be activated for the playoffs and Odell Beckham Jr. can steal his jersey number for the season. We will either see Odell Beckham Jr. or Cam Akers in a different number in 2022. There is also the possibility that Akers had no ties to his number and was willing to give it up. OBJ could have also bribed him for it or made a deal to borrow it for this season and then switch with John Wolford next season.
Either way, Odell Beckham Jr. will don the #3 this Monday as he makes his first start for the Rams. OBJ will start after Robert Woods suffered a season-ending injury on Friday in practice.
