Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hasn’t made direct contact with Odell Beckham Jr. But based on the meeting he had with OBJ’s mother, he feels sure the receiver would be a good fit for Dallas.
Yes, Heather Van Norman is that impressive. Most people believe OBJ got his athletic genes from his dad, Odell Beckham Sr. But he probably inherited his speed from his mother, a former LSU track star.
The reason why NFL folks like Jerry Jones are talking about him again is because Beckham Jr is now healthy again and ready to sign with a new team. He spent all of 2022 on the sidelines as he recovered from knee reconstruction surgery. The Cowboys, New York Giants and Buffalo Bills all spoke with OBJ about adding him to the roster in time for the playoffs in January.
Jones said he met Beckham’s mother at the NFL Honors program in Phoenix last month, four days before the Super Bowl.
“I did have a very impressive conversation with the most important one in this whole proposition, that’s his mother,” Jerry Jones said in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It was really easy for me to see where Odell [Beckham] got a lot of his pluses. She was very impressive. You can see where he gets a lot of the things he has.”
Heather Van Norman and Beckham Sr met in Baton Rouge when both were athletes competing for LSU. The Tiger women’s track program in a traditional powerhouse. Van Norman transferred there after signing with Minnesota. She was a six-time All-American and ran legs on the LSU’s NCAA champion 4X400 relay. The Tigers won three straight outdoor team titles when Van Norman competed for them. She gave birth to Odell in 1992 while she still was in school.
She’s since earned her Masters degree from LSU. Like Jerry Jones said, Odell Beckham’s mother is an impressive woman.
Now, will Jerry Jones and the Cowboys sign Odell Beckham? It’s unclear whether Dallas will do so. OBJ worked out for teams, Friday, in Phoenix. Representatives from 11 NFL teams attended the workouts. But the Cowboys didn’t send anyone.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the Cowboys already have done their “due diligence” on Beckham. They’ll sign him if the money and his health “are right.” Dallas didn’t think OBJ was serious about playing in the 2022 postseason. But the Cowboys believe he’s focused this time.
Beckham turned 30 last fall. But he hasn’t played much because of injury going back three years. He tore his ACL while playing for the Rams in the Super Bowl. In 2021, OBJ played for the Browns, then the Rams. He caught 44 passes for 537 yards that fall. In 2020, Beckham caught 23 passes in seven games. His last big season was 2019, when he notched 74 receptions for 1,035 yards.
