It wasn’t Odell Beckham’s decision to come to Cleveland. In fact, early reports after it was revealed that the New York Giants had traded him were that he was surprised and hurt by the move. The Giants had said they wouldn’t have signed him to a big extension just to turn around and trade him…then they did.
In fact, throughout the 2019 season, there were rumors of Beckham’s discontentment in Cleveland. He had reportedly been telling players on opposing sidelines leading up to the trade deadline to tell their owners to ‘come get him’, as in to trade for him. Later, on multiple occasions, he failed to answer questions about his commitment to being in Cleveland convincingly, essentially leaving the door open to his trying to leave.
After the season ended, he started to change his tune…especially after the Browns announced that they would be letting Freddie Kitchens go. The novice head coach seemed to be in ill favor of many veterans on the team, including fellow wide receiver Jarvis Landry.
Recently, Beckham was seen working out with Cam Newton, who of course signed a contract with the New England Patriots. Naturally, that led to people on Twitter writing about how he will end up with the Patriots by the time the season starts.
“Lol no sir boss! But y’all got my brother, wishin nothin but the best and LUV”, he said in response to one Tweet. To one that said he’ll be a Patriot before the season is done, he responded, “U can find me in The LAND homie! We got unfinished business”.
In his first season with the Browns, they went 6-10, which included them dropping their final three games to the Arizona Cardinals and a pair of division rivals. They went 1-4 over the final five weeks of the season, with losses to each of their AFC North opponents. That was following a three-game winning streak—though that was preceded by a four-game losing streak.
Both Beckham and Landry played throughout the entirety of the season with groin injuries, and they both had surgery to repair said injuries shortly after the season ended. The hope is that their better health, among many other changes, will result in their achieving the success that they expected last season.
Arguably the biggest difference from last season should be the offensive line, with Jack Conklin being brought in as a free agent at right tackle. The nature of the offseason will make things difficult on him, but first-round pick Jedrick Wills is penciled into the left tackle spot.
Keeping Beckham content would be a good place to start, especially if the reports about his in-season behavior last year were true. Not that the New York Giants had great success during his best years, but a good OBJ is better than an average and disgruntled one.
