The Facts: Beckham tore his ACL in Super Bowl LVI. Unless he didn’t. As Beckham tells it, the failure of the new ACL he received after tearing it during the 2020 season against the Bengals in Cincinnati didn’t happen against the Bengals in L.A. Beckham has disclosed on Twitter that he “really played the whole back half of the season without an ACL, and won a Super Bowl!”
Diehards Line:
As PFT's Mike Florio notes, if true, this means the injury happened during the 2021 regular season, presumably at the midpoint of it. And it invites speculation as to whether it happened when he was with the Browns or when he was with the Rams. Whatever the case, he has since had surgery to repair the ACL for a second time. And he continues to wait for his next team in large part because no one has been willing to roll the dice on the possibility that he won’t be ready to play until late in the regular season. The last time he had the same injury repaired, 11 months passed before he was cleared. The Rams continue to claim that they want him. The longer they wait, however, the greater the chance some other team that could benefit from his presence and his skills may try to swoop in and snatch him. Florio is watching the Buccaneers (given the longstanding mutual admiration between OBJ and Tom Brady), the Vikings (where former Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell is now the head coach), the Packers (based on their obvious need at the position), the Bills, the Chiefs and the Patriots (they were quietly in the hunt for him last year). Florio threw the Bengals into that mix as well. ... It's something to watch in coming weeks.