In the NFL, mysteries invite speculation. And there’s a true mystery regarding Dolphins receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
He signeda $3 million deal with the team and passed the physical, as far as anyone knows. But he then failed to pass his pre-training camp physical, landing on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
He participated in some of the team’s offseason program, but not in team drills. The subsequent failure to pass a physical suggests that he suffered some sort of injury during his time on the practice field.
That’s apparently not the case.
On Wednesday, G.M. Chris Grier was asked whether it was accurate that, when OBJ was signed, the Dolphins “knew or suspected he might not be able to start the year because of a procedure.”
“Yes,” Grier said.
Grier declined to specify the injury.
“I appreciate the question, but I don’t like to talk about people’s medical history,” Grier said.
While teams routinely talk about “people’s medical history” when publishing injury reports, there’s no obligation to say anything about Beckham until he’s on the active roster in the days preceding a game. When he passes a physical, he’ll presumably be healthy — and there will be nothing to announce.
Beckham missed two games last year with an ankle injury. He also was listed as questionably in late November with a shoulder injury.
The Dolphins have decided to keep their cards close to the vest on this one. It has kept fans and media from realizing until very recently that the situation would cause Beckham to miss games that count.
But he will. At least four of them. And that will make it harder for Beckham to unlock his incentive package of $5.25 million. It’s based on yards, catches, and touchdowns — and now he’ll have 13 games at most to get there, instead of 17.
