It took some haggling, but Odell Beckham and the Browns have finally restructured the receiver's contract, which will now pave the way for him to be waived on Monday. At that point, every team in the NFL -- besides the Browns -- will have a chance to make a waiver claim for the 29-year-old and teams will have until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday to make that move.
Of course, if any team wants to claim Beckham, they're going to make sure they have enough salary cap space to absorb his contract, which is one big reason why we might end up seeing him go unclaimed this week. Under terms of his new deal with the Browns, any team that claims Beckham will owe him the rest of his 2021 pay, which is $7.25 million.
During the offseason, most teams have that kind of money available, but during Week 9 of the regular season, there just aren't many teams that can commit $7.25 million to a player. As a matter of fact, as things stand right now, there are only nine teams in the NFL that can afford to add Beckham.
According to Overthecap.com, the only teams with enough salary cap space to add him are: the Jacksonville Jaguars ($28.02 million), Philadelphia Eagles ($21.44 million), Denver Broncos ($15.26 million), Seattle Seahawks ($13.34 million), Carolina Panthers ($11.49 million), Washington ($11.12 million), Los Angeles Chargers ($10.36 million), Pittsburgh Steelers ($10.15 million) and Cincinnati Bengals ($8.15 million).
According to ESPN.com, Beckham wants to play for a playoff contender and he might potentially cause issues if a bad team claims him, which means it's highly unlikely you'll see a team like the Jaguars or Eagles make a claim. The Lions currently have the top spot in the waiver order (you can see the entire order by clicking here), but they only have $2.35 million in available cap space, which is why you likely won't see them make a claim even though they could use a receiver.
Although there are only nine teams that can currently afford Beckham, that doesn't mean those are the only nine teams that can make a claim. Any team is free to make a claim, but they'd have to quickly figure out how to clear enough cap space to make the move work.
For instance, the Saints have been mentioned as a possible contender to land Beckham, but they have less than $1 million in cap space, which means they'd have to somehow clear $6.5 million if they were to submit the winning claim.
Basically, Beckham's high price might drive teams away, which would be good news for him, because if he goes unclaimed, then he'll be come a free agent. If that happens, that could also be a good thing for any team that wants to add him. When that team gives him a new contract, they'll be able to sign him to a deal that doesn't included a huge cap hit for 2021.
If you want to see which teams might end up making a claim for Beckham, then you'll want to click here to see our rankings of the top-10 teams who might go after him on waivers. If you want to know who might go after him in free agency -- if he clears waivers -- then you'll want to click here to see our ranking of 10 teams that might try to sign him.
