New developments on the Odell Beckham front brought Aditi Kinkhabwala to the Browns’ facility, where the NFL Network reporter took a temperature check Thursday, capturing the mood inside Cleveland’s locker room. While the Browns have publicly supported Beckham amid his latest saga, his teammates have projected a much different attitude behind closed doors, resigned to the fact OBJ desperately wants out of Cleveland.
“Despite whatever reports are out there, I have spoken to multiple people in this building who said it’s not that hard. If Odell Beckham Jr. really wants to be here, he’d pick up the phone and call his quarterback,” said Kinkhabwala, relaying conversations she’s had with Beckham’s teammates and coaches, who appear less than thrilled at the receiver’s latest sideshow, pouting about his diminished workload in what has been a run-centric Browns offense. “He’d pick up the phone and call his head coach. He would have perhaps told his father, ‘Take down that video.’ Maybe he would have even told LeBron James to back off and let him fight his own fight.”
Beckham has been excused from practice the past two days following an Instagram post by his father, Odell Sr., who lambasted quarterback Baker Mayfield for not making his son a bigger part of Cleveland’s passing attack. Mayfield admitted the criticism caught him off guard, but insisted the elder Beckham’s remarks wouldn’t affect his relationship with OBJ.
The Raiders and Saints were among teams interested in Beckham ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, though no deal materialized with many citing his exorbitant $15.75-million salary as a possible deterrent. With Beckham no longer on speaking terms with coach Kevin Stefanski, it’s hard to envision the former Rookie of the Year suiting up against the Bengals in Week 9. In fact, sources tell ESPN’s Jordan Schultz the disgruntled 28-year-old has “very likely” played his final game as a Brown.
Beckham’s father noted several instances where the former NFL Rookie of the Year appeared to be open but wasn’t targeted against the Vikings, Chargers and Cardinals, though Kinkhabwala says there’s another side to that story. “The Browns run a rhythm and timing offense. That means that Baker Mayfield throws to a specific spot at a specific time,” explained Kinkhabwala. “Just because you see a receiver that maybe looks open on the field, that may not be the spot that he’s supposed to be in at the time that he’s supposed to be there.”
Beyond the frustrations caused by Beckham, a once-dominant player who has seen his career derailed by constant injuries and an inflated ego that has made him virtually impossible to coach, the Browns have struggled under the weight of heightened expectations, losing three of their past four games while sinking to the bottom of a competitive AFC North. Injuries to Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Jarvis Landry and Mayfield (who is playing through a literal broken shoulder) have left the Browns, coming off their first playoff appearance in over a decade, little room for error ahead of difficult upcoming matchups with Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Green Bay, New England and Baltimore.
“The Browns players right now are saying, ‘Sure, yes, if he wants to be here, if he can help us, yeah, we’ll take him back,’ because that is the path of least resistance,” said Kinkhabwala, sensing Beckham’s teammates are more frustrated than their diplomatic media soundbites would indicate. “What else are they going to say right now?”
Related
Related
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram