3 Cowboys backup plans if Odell Beckham Jr. can’t play this season

2. James Washington’s return from IR could give Cowboys offense a spark

During the offseason, there were plenty of Cowboys fans who weren’t particularly thrilled that the franchise traded away Amari Cooper and the big answer to replace him was to sign free agent James Washington. However, he still figured to be a player that could help the team, or at least that was the case until he broke his foot during the first padded practice of training camp.

After spending every day since then on IR, Washington had his first walk-through on Nov. 30 and has started to ramp up his work a bit. Now he’s looking like someone who could follow the once-hoped-for OBJ route of joining the team for the final month of the season and helping make a run.

Washington doesn’t bring nearly the juice or gravitas that a healthy Beckham would, but he has been a solid player in his young career with 114 catches for 1,629 yards and 11 touchdowns over four seasons as a role player in Pittsburgh. Putting him as a WR3 alongside Lamb and Gallup could be an ideal role that adds a new dimension to the Dallas offense.

1. Cowboys don’t need Odell Beckham Jr. to be elite offensively

In all honesty, adding a healthy Odell Beckham Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys offense would be a luxury move. What it most certainly is not is a necessity. After all, this is the team with the best point differential in the league (+127) through 13 weeks and that has been absolutely cooking offensively since Prescott returned from injury and especially as he’s gotten more comfortable.

Between the emergence of Tony Pollard as a bigger weapon in the offense, CeeDee Lamb performing like a true No. 1 receiver, and Michael Gallup finding his footing once again after his own return from injury, this unit is clicking on all cylinders, especially with Prescott playing some of the best and most aggressive football of his career.

This team doesn’t need OBJ to make a deep playoff run. They have the pieces in place to do that as is. So perhaps the best Plan B is to just write it off as something that didn’t work out if Beckham isn’t healthy enough to play and then just stay the course.