Patriots fans better not buy into the Odell Beckham Jr. trade rumor hype again

It’s not even Week 2, and the Odell Beckham Jr.-Patriots trade rumors are already in full force.

Time is a flat circle and surely enough, the New England Patriots are being linked with a superstar wide receiver who isn’t exactly thriving with his current franchise.

Before Odell Beckham Jr. was traded to Cleveland at the start of last offseason, rumors indicated that the Patriots were eyeing a blockbuster deal for him. To nobody’s surprise, that wasn’t the last we heard of this topic in 2019 as the three-time Pro Bowler struggled mightily to develop a rapport with quarterback Baker Mayfield.

And the links to New England immediately resurfaced, but when all was said and done, Beckham asserted that he was happy in Cleveland and ready to bring winning football back to the city.

However — you probably know where this is going — the Browns looked dreadful in Week 1 against Baltimore and Beckham didn’t sniff any sort of significance, managing just three receptions for 22 yards. Like the last two seasons, the Patriots have once again been linked with the former first-round pick and we really hope fans don’t buy into the hype.

It’s worth noting that these rumors aren’t coming from the NFL’s high-profile reporters, but the fact that they’re even coming back to light is enough to be annoying.

The Patriots are almost always linked with a supposed disgruntled wideout, and we totally get it as they could really prove to benefit from adding a game-breaking playmaker on the perimeter to complement starters Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry.

New England, according to Spotrac, also has the fourth-most salary cap space in the NFL at $28.674 million, meaning the franchise would be able to afford Beckham’s $18 million annual average salary without batting an eye. In the simplest of terms, the Patriots could trade for any receiver in the league and be able to afford his salary if they wanted to.

Why else do you think Allen Robinson was linked to NE after he removed all tracings of the Chicago Bears from his social media accounts on Tuesday? It’s duly noted that the Patriots could do without an elite wideout, but let’s not pretend like the Randy Moss trade happened yesterday.

It’s been 13 years since Bill Belichick made a blockbuster splash on a wide receiver. As evidenced by the failed Mohamed Sanu deal, it’s clear he would prefer to pursue proven veterans over players with massive egos like OBJ who need a sizable target share to be satisfied.

If Week 1 was any indication — Cam Newton attempted just 19 passes compared to 15 carries — the Patriots don’t plan to throw a ton this season. We would assert that it makes less sense for them to trade for Beckham than it did in 2019.

Don’t get fooled again, Patriots fans, because an OBJ trade isn’t happening.