BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – To the naked eye, Odell Beckham Jr. looks healthy and ready.
As of Thursday, the Browns are keeping his status for Sunday’s season opener at Kansas City a mystery – or at least trying to.
Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was asked if we will have to wait until Sunday to find out if Beckham will make his anticipated return after tearing his ACL in Week 7 last year and undergoing surgery in early November.
“I think at this point, that is where we are right now,” Van Pelt said. “He is out here in practice and does some good things. It is just wait until the end of the week to see where he stands.”
Beckham was listed on the injury report as limited with a knee injury, which is not a surprise, and also isn’t that big of a deal. He’s participated fully during the portions of practice open to reporters this week.
Towards the end of August, he began taking some team 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 reps after being held back and limited to individual, positional and ‘on air’ work throughout training camp.
“He's great,” Beckham’s best friend and fellow receiver Jarvis Landry said Thursday. “He's getting better each and every day.
“He's going his pace. We're all here supporting him. We're all here just can't wait to see the things he's been working on continue to come to life. He's been a guy who's been struck with a lot of hardships from the injury perspective. Everybody, I think, not just the Browns, but everybody just wants to see him make due for all the things we know he can do.”
So does that mean he’s playing Sunday?
“We'll see,” Landry responded.
Some might question if Beckham has lost a step or can return to the prolific weapon he once was because of his recent injury history, but the Browns don’t believe that to be an issue, which is a positive sign for Sunday.
“He definitely still has it. There is no question,” Van Pelt said. “He is powerful and explosive when he starts to run, and he digs in. He can fly. Having that speed back on the field, we are looking forward to that.”
Don’t look ahead – The Browns are everyone’s trendy pick to win the AFC North, advance in the playoffs and potentially play in the Super Bowl.
Despite the outside noise – all positive, the Browns are trying to maintain their focus.
“You can't look ahead,” Landry said. “I know a lot of teams treat it in quarters and they look at four games and four games here and there, but I think the realistic approach is we play the Kansas City Chiefs this week. That's all we can focus on, that's all we can worry about, that's all we can control is those things in that week leading to that game. I think that's probably one of the most realistic approaches.”
Credit head coach Kevin Stefanski for instilling that day-to-day, week-by-week approach in his team.
“We never look too far ahead, too far behind,” left guard Joel Bitonio, the longest tenured Brown along with long snapper Charley Hughlett since 2014, said. “Once it’s past us and we’ve learned from it, we’re staying in the moment. That’s what we stress, and he stresses hard work and staying in the moment, and I think the coaching staff is key to keeping that mantra going.”
Big role for JOK – Rookie linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will be busy Sunday.
“I’m expecting to have a big role, nickel, some base, stuff like that,” Owusu-Koramoa said earlier this week.
Defensive coordinator Joe Woods all but confirmed that Thursday when asked what packages the second-round pick will be in.
“Hopefully, all of them, but we do not want to put too much on him,” Woods said. “We know he is very talented, but at the same time, he is young. When you see a guy that like that, for me, you want to draw a whole bunch of things up on the board, but we are going to be smart in terms of what we ask him to do.
“We will match him up in coverage at times. We will blitz him at times. We will drop him in zone. We are going to give him a little bit of everything but not too much.”
Part of that assignment will include trying to slow down Chiefs All-Pro tight end and Cleveland native Travis Kelce, which for him is par for the course dating back to his time at Notre Dame.
“High-rated guy. It’s not foreign to me to have some type of matchup [like that],” Owusu-Koramoah said. “[I] Watched a lot of film, had to watch a lot of film to be able to be ready for a guy that’s as talented as him. So we’ll be ready, I’ll be ready.”
Delpit doubtful? – It doesn’t sound like safety Grant Delpit is going to see much time, if any Sunday.
“We will have to evaluate that really day by day,” Woods said. “He has been involved. He has been in all the walkthroughs. He takes reps out there so he definitely understands what he is doing, and we want to make sure that he is healthy enough to play.”
Clowney still ill – Jadeveon Clowney missed his second consecutive practice due to an unspecified illness, but Woods remained optimistic defensive end may be available Sunday.
“He will be fine,” Woods said. “I think last week just going through all of the practices, we installed some things so hopefully, we get him back here in the next couple of days.”
If Clowney, who has played a full regular season just once in his career, can’t go, Takkarist McKinley and Joe Jackson would have to step in which is just fine with Woods.
“We want to send waves of defensive linemen at people,” Woods said. “That is the way we are built any way. I feel comfortable where Takk is. Joe Jackson understands the system. Again, hopefully we get JD back here in a day or two.”
Minor move – The Browns waived offensive tackle Greg Senat from injured reserve Thursday.
Injury report – DNP: G Michael Dunn (back), DE Jadeveon Clowney (illness), LB Tony Fields II (illness); LIMITED: WR Odell Beckham Jr. (knee), S Grant Delpit (hamstring), S Ronnie Harrison Jr. (ankle), WR Rashard Higgins (hamstring), CB Troy Hill (hamstring), C J.C. Tretter (knee), CB Greedy Williams (groin); FULL: LB Sione Takitaki (hamstring)
Up next – Practice Friday
