3 ways Odell Beckham Jr. can benefit the Steelers if claimed

The Cleveland Browns have cut ties with Odell Beckham Jr. this week, and Pittsburgh Steelers should take interest. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers most recently lost one of their top wideouts for the year in JuJu Smith-Schuster. They could benefit by signing Odell Beckham Jr. just from his talent alone. Would he come with a lot of baggage and if so, would the Steelers be ok with it?

That is a question we will soon find out if he does get claimed by Pittsburgh. There are obviously pros and cons to signing Beckham, but this could be a good partnership because of the veteran presence and respect Ben Roethlisberger has in this league since he is a future Hall of Fame quarterback.

Here are three ways that Odell Beckham Jr. can benefit the Steelers offense if claimed by Pittsburgh:

Odell Beckham would improve Steelers vertical attack

Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense have not been successful when throwing the ball downfield. Prior to Week 9, Big Ben has thrown the football a total of 259 times this year and 31 of those attempts have been 20+ yards or more downfield. Of those 31 attempts, only 8 of them have been completed.

That currently gives Roethlisberger and this offense a 25.8% completion percentage when throwing the deep ball. This only gives them an 11.5% attempt rate when throwing the deep ball, which is not good enough in today’s NFL.

Odell Beckham Jr. would help this problem the Steelers currently have. He has always been a reliable deep ball threat and would bring that type of skill set to this team that desperately needs it. Almost 30% of his targets this year have been on passes down the field.

This would also help Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool by not having them bracketed at the line. This makes too much sense for them to not at least think about getting Odell Beckham Jr. in Pittsburgh by next week and see if it can mesh with this offense.