BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – On the third day, Odell rested.
Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t practice Thursday, by design.
Beckham’s recovery from a torn ACL suffered October 25 at Cincinnati and surgery, which took place in November, has been nothing short of miraculous.
“He looked really, really good,” offensive coordinator Alex van Pelt said Thursday following camp coming to a close. “Says he is feeling better and feeling good. I know he is working his butt off to be great. Really impressed with his ability to come back as quickly as he has. Ran some really good individual routes during the side periods. Got some really good work in.
Good to see him back in the mix and feeling better.”
Having Beckham rest Thursday was part of the rehab plan as to not overextend or push him too hard.
Van Pelt is anxious to use Beckham this fall after the injury cost the prolific receiver the final nine games of the 2020 season.
“Anytime you can add a dominant athlete back on the field in your offense, it is only going to help us,” Van Pelt said. “He is an elite player. Not having him out there, we had to fight and claw to continue to have offensive success. I know it is a lot easier when you have great players.”
Because Baker Mayfield and the offense took off without Beckham over the final eight games, the narrative became that the Browns might be better without No. 13 on the field, a notion that van Pelt vehemently disagrees with.
Van Pelt explained Beckham’s value goes beyond his own catches, yards and touchdowns.
“Anytime you have a great athlete, you see a lot of coverage roll to that player. That kind of went away when Odell was injured,” Van Pelt said. “That opens it up for other players to be successful. It is not always great to be double teamed all of the time, but sometimes, that is going to happen when you are great. I would expect teams to have to honor Odell, and potentially at times, put two guys on him.”
Play of day three – Greg Newsome II set off a roar among his defensive teammates with an interception during 7-on-7 work Thursday morning.
The No. 26 pick almost had a pick-6 earlier in camp this week.
Defensive coordinator Joe Woods believes he’ll be able to move Newsome inside and outside as needed.
“During the offseason is when you really want to put guys in those positions to see what they are capable of doing in terms of playing inside and outside so we expose him to it so he knows the coverages and the techniques we are asking him to play,” Woods said. “When we come back in training camp, we will see how he progressed and for him to keep moving in that direction or just focus some more outside at corner.
“Right now, I believe he is capable of playing both positions.”
Many happy returners – The competition at kick and punt returner will be one to watch come training camp.
Incumbent D’Ernest Johnson, Donovan Peoples-Jones and a now healthy JoJo Natson is compelling but add in rookies Demetric Felton and Anthony Schwartz and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer has options he did not have a year ago.
“We have a lot of competition,” Priefer said Thursday. “We have a lot of different types of skillsets. For me, it is a wide-open job so we are going to see what happens here down the road.”
Parkey puts on pounds – Kicker Cody Parkey put on “seven or eight pounds of muscle” this offseason according to Priefer. Parkey avoided weight rooms last year leading up to camp due to COVID concerns and his wife being pregnant at the time.
“I do not blame him,” Priefer said. “I think he lost some of that strength so when he showed up for camp [last year], he was not quite as strong as he had been.
“He looks really good. He is stronger. He is kicking off better. He feels more confident. He still has a little bit of work to do, and he has positioned himself very well for this competition.”
Parkey will compete with journeyman Chase McLaughlin during training camp.
Bring the noise – The defensive line is going to be fun to watch come training camp.
By far they were the most vocal position group during minicamp this week and with vacation on the horizon following a short practice, they were extra loud and competitive Thursday while working the bags and hitting the sled.
“This is a good team, and this group of guys they enjoy their self,” defensive end Jadeveon Clowney said earlier this week. “They are having a good time. They are fun to be around. Everybody is flying around. Everybody is smiling. It is a young team so you all kind of get the idea of what I mean by everybody having a good time and having fun. It is not like work to us here. We like the job. It is like we are having a good time. That can be a good thing for us or it can be a bad thing. Right now, it is a good thing.”
Number change – Veteran linebacker Anthony Walker has dropped the 5 from his 54 and will wear 4 this season.
Browns linebacker Anthony Walker wears his new No. 4 jersey during the final practice of minicamp on June 17, 2021.Matt Starkey-Cleveland Browns
Injury report – S Grant Delpit and WR JoJo Natson returned to individual and positional work after working on the side Wednesday. Beckham along with WR Anthony Schwartz, LB Tony Fields II, OT Chris Hubbard and WR Rashard Higgins were on the side working out with trainers.
