Cowboys’ Odell Beckham Jr. chase hits giant snag with injury concerns

MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 14: Odell Beckham Jr. attends the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat game at FTX Arena on November 14, 2022 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 14: Odell Beckham Jr. attends the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat game at FTX Arena on November 14, 2022 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images) /
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The Dallas Cowboys wined and dined Odell Beckham Jr. on the final two-day stop of his recent free agency retreat, sending him winking and nodding to the Dallas Mavericks game with Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs after giving him a physical at the team facility.

Is that where all the fun ends? Or maybe it was something he said?

After giving off all the bravado in the world courtside, Jerry Jones’ next-day follow-up hinted that even he is having reservations about guaranteeing Beckham a contract for 2023 when he isn’t entirely sure in the wideout’s surgically-repaired lower half holding up.

Really? All this hoopla for a No. 3 wide receiver on a team with plenty of difference-makers? And he won’t even work out?

Jones, ever the splash-maker, admitted to the media on Tuesday that he wasn’t at all confident in making the right decision by splashing the cash on OBJ.

Jerry Jones not confident in Odell Beckham Jr.’s health, Cowboys deal

Per Jones himself, on his confidence in Beckham’s health holding up:

"“I’m not confident at all,” Jones said. “So, that’s the issue. Now, we all realize that issue of health, that issue of availability is here every time. Just this one is very obvious and very pointed toward his injury that occurred last year in the Super Bowl. We got a good bead on that. We got a great read on his career. It’s not like a draft pick coming at you. You got a lot of history here and you can take a good look at, not only the obvious and that’s his performance, but also any issues regarding health.”"

More confident than he would be about a draft pick, less confident than he was about Michael Gallup, not a girl, not yet a woman.

Maybe Jones just realizes that something really special is going on in the Cowboys’ locker room, and he doesn’t want to take a chance at disrupting it? First time for everything.

Or maybe this whole thing goes deeper. According to Ed Werder, Dallas is concerned that Beckham’s injury hasn’t progressed in healing, making him a potential non-factor until next season.

That’s why you do the physical.

After all this hoopla, it turns out the 2022 Beckham Chase might’ve just been a fact-finding mission and a prelude to 2023. Maybe OBJ will line up alongside Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb next season, or maybe he’ll be in Big Blue. Whatever he chooses appears to have no bearing on what remains of this campaign.