MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It’s far, far, faaaaaaar down the list of reasons the Miami Dolphins are 2-5.
But Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel’s decision to make a soon-to-be-32-year-old Odell Beckham Jr. their WR3 plan has certainly been a contributing variable.
Miami Dolphins Getting Nothing From Odell Beckham Jr.
Not only has Beckham, one of Grier’s most high-profile offseason signings, been a non-factor for the Dolphins in 2024, he’s also barely been on the field.
Sunday was the third straight time in as many games in a Dolphins uniform that Beckham went without a catch. And in a weird (or perhaps intentional) statistical quirk, he’s logged just 11 snaps in each of those three games.
In Sunday’s 28-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, McDaniel used rookie Malik Washington (16 snaps) more than Beckham.
Cardinals-Dolphins Snap Counts pic.twitter.com/TlNXVsrvBM
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) October 28, 2024
OBJ has not looked like the OBJ of even 2023 since coming off the physically unable to perform list in Week 5. He has run 29 routes and has been thrown the ball three times –the only one of those three attempts caught was by the opposition. One of the three incompletions on Beckham’s targets was due to a drop.
Dolphins quarterbacks when targeting Beckham this year have a 0.0 passer rating.
The list of Dolphins players who have more catches than Beckham this year are Grant DuBose, Robbie Chosen, D’Wayne Eskridge, and Tanner Conner. DuBose and Chosen haven’t been on the active roster in weeks.
Why Is Beckham Struggling?
So what’s going on?
“Like everything, as you play in multiple systems, timing is different,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith said last week. “How, maybe, you run a route and attack space is different, so I think just getting connected with what we’re asking to do on those things and that comes with playing and opportunities and maximizing them.
“I think [he’s] extremely coachable, he loves getting better, working at things. I think that’s going to come just with the repetitions of playing, getting more opportunities as the season goes along.”
Mike McDaniel on Monday did say Odell Beckham Jr. “looked as comfortably as he’s looked” with the Dolphins in Week 8. “My expectation would be more involvement.”
The reality is, his opportunities are going to players the Dolphins trust more.
The real No. 3 receiver for the Dolphins is a running back, De’Von Achane, who is second on the team in catches (244) and receiving touchdowns (1), third in targets (34), and fourth in receiving yards (244).
The Dolphins aren’t exactly using Beckham as if they think he’s a dynamic playmaker. He doesn’t have nearly enough targets to qualify for Next Gen Stats, so there’s not enough statistical data to say if he’s consistently getting open.
But it’s quite telling that Beckham’s average depth of target (6.7) more resembles a fullback than it does a wide receiver.
Plus, it’s fair to wonder if he, at this point, would be seeing the field at all if River Cracraft had not gotten hurt. Cracraft is probably a more complete player than Beckham and could leapfrog him on the depth chart whenever he returns from injured reserve.
But the most telling data point? Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday barely looked Beckham’s way in their first game together. He managed to find Eskridge once, however.
“I think there’s a lot of things we can continue to get better at,” Tua said postgame. “As a unit, we look to end the drive with points every time we’re out there. I believe we’re too talented to not end drives with points, so we got to go take a look at what we can continue to do to get better for our team, to put points on the board so that a situation like that doesn’t happen.”