Odell Beckham Jr. admits Ravens weren't his first choice

Star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. initially wasn't sold on signing with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this offseason. 

"If I’m honest, I was resistant," Beckham recently told Dan Pompei of The Athletic about joining the AFC North club. "There were other places I wanted to go. I wasn’t necessarily a Ravens fan because the Ravens always whipped my a--."

Neither Beckham nor Pompei revealed the "other places" Beckham had in mind. Last fall, the three-time Pro Bowl selection met with the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants amid his recovery from the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee he suffered in February 2022 but remained unsigned through the playoffs. 

The Cowboys reportedly were concerned about Beckham's surgically-repaired knee after he underwent a physical with the team in December. 

It was then thought back in March that the New York Jets were a likely landing spot for Beckham, in part because new Gang Green quarterback Aaron Rodgers allegedly wanted the veteran pass-catcher as a teammate. 

Beckham told Pompei about looking to a higher power for clarity on where to resume his playing career this year. 

"It’s that voice you hear in your head, the feel in your gut, kind of an intuition," Beckham said about his final decision that became official in April. "Really, that’s God’s voice. I started hearing God louder than my resistance. That’s God protecting you. The signs were showing me this is the right path." 

Beckham ultimately signed a one-year, $15M contract with the Ravens even though he thought about retiring following his second serious knee injury since October 2020. Pompei noted that the Ravens "made Beckham an offer unlike any other team" because "they saw value beyond receptions and yards" and knew the 30-year-old "could put points on a team’s financial scoreboard through social media bumps and jersey sales." 

While Beckham made what many would deem to be a wise short-term financial decision in joining Baltimore, he also put himself in a solid position to pursue a second career Super Bowl ring. 

As of Monday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Ravens as fifth among betting favorites at +1200 odds to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LVIII this coming February.