The Los Angeles Rams run to the Super Bowl was bolstered in a major way by the team’s signing of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in the middle of the season. After being released by the Cleveland Browns following a disappointing stint there, the Rams brought in the former Pro Bowler to give the team another weapon in the passing game outside of Cooper Kupp.
While there were questions about just how good Beckham still was, he showed there was plenty still in the tank, particularly in the playoffs. In the postseason, Beckham caught 21 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns including the Rams’ first score in the Super Bowl itself. But Beckham would leave that game after suffering a torn ACL and hasn’t played since.
But the receiver has signed with Baltimore Ravens this offseason and at his introductory press conference revealed an interesting bit of news. Beckham said that when he signed with the Rams, he was informed that he didn’t have an ACL in his knee but chose to play through it, via NFL reporter Dov Kleiman:
“I’m feeling great. I guess I don’t know if it’s the second ACL because that whole season I was playing without it and it was a crazy thing. I signed with the L.A. Rams and I remember [Dr. Neal] ElAttrache comes down there and he’s like ‘I just gotta inform you that you don’t have a ACL, we can re-do your surgery right now,’ and this was Week 9 of the season. And I just told him I’ve been through way too much. To come here and sign, there was way too much talk on my name the past year. I came here to help win a championship and I told him I’ll die on the sword and that was just the kind of reference that I used. I just cared that much about playing.”
That is truly an unbelievable story and also says a lot about Beckham’s desire to win. His mindset would make sense at that time because of the way his tenure in New York ended followed by an awful time with the Browns. Many were questioning just how committed Beckham was to football and whether he could contribute to a winning team and he was determined to shut down all the haters.
He was able to do that in a big fashion and got his Super Bowl ring with the Rams and now he is set to begin the next chapter of his career in Baltimore.
