The arrival of Odell Backham Jr. in Cleveland ushered in an era of optimism. How did it all fall apart so quickly?
When the Cleveland Browns traded for Odell Beckham Jr. in March 2019, it felt like the team was entering into a new era. Baker Mayfield had just finished a sterling rookie season, the team had gone 7-8-1 one year removed from an 0-16 campaign, and had just acquired a legitimate star for the first time in years.
That feeling turned out to be half-right. During Beckham’s time in Cleveland, the team did enter that new era. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and won their first postseason game since 1994. In the course of a few years, the Browns went from a laughing stock to a well-run organization that appears sure to be one of the best teams in the AFC for years to come. However, this all happened with Beckham, the incoming superstar who seemed bound to form such a lethal pairing with Mayfield, playing a lesser role than anyone would have imagined.
Now, after 29 games over two and a half seasons, the Odell Beckham Jr. era is over in Cleveland. The Browns announced Friday morning that they are in the process of finalizing Beckham’s release after failing to secure a trade for him before Tuesday’s deadline. In those 29 games, Beckham accumulated 114 receptions, 1586 yards, and 7 touchdowns. They were disappointing numbers, not too dissimilar from what he would put up in a single year during his first three seasons with the Giants.
But sometimes things just don’t work out. And now, in the aftermath, there’s an eagerness to ascribe blame. Many Browns fans are eager to decry Beckham as an ego-driven star who was unable to accept his role in a run-first, rhythm-based offense. Meanwhile, Beckham defenders see Mayfield as a deficient quarterback who was unable to rise to the occasion of having a great receiver.
I don’t believe either of those views is right nor do I believe that either party is at fault or should be blamed to the exclusion of the other. It is not that things would have played out differently if one party had changed their ways, but that they were fundamentally incompatible — at least in the context in which they played together.
Whose should be blamed for Odell Beckham Jr.’s failure in Cleveland?
It is true that Mayfield, despite being easily the best quarterback the Browns have had in at least 25 years, is not one of the NFL’s best. In light of that, head coach Kevin Stefanski has built an offense that accommodates Mayfield, accentuating his strengths while hiding his weaknesses.
In light of Mayfield’s past interception troubles, the team’s offense is fundamentally risk-averse and prioritizes quick, precise passes. It is also an egalitarian offense that does not need (or potentially even allow for) one dynamic playmaker. So far this season, 10 Browns have over 100 receiving yards while none have more than David Njoku’s 341. Stefanski always seemed to care more about working Beckham into the whole than figuring out how to best accommodate his special talents. One may disagree with that approach, but that is the route that was chosen.
There are few things NFL teams decry more than distractions and Beckham’s presence, often through no fault of his own, was a big one for Cleveland. Questions arose continuously. Why wasn’t he being targeted enough? Why isn’t his catch percentage higher? Why isn’t he getting in the end zone more? Why does Mayfield seem more comfortable throwing to other receivers? What explains the discrepancy in his stats when throwing to Beckham as opposed to other receivers?
Though questions persisted, an equilibrium was never found. On-field chemistry remained elusive and that lack so often overshadowed everything else. This was the only choice left for both parties, though acknowledging that fact does not make accepting it, and all the missed opportunities that will define Beckham’s tenure in Cleveland, any easier.
It is not immediately clear what player Beckham is at this point in his career. Of a possible 42 games in Cleveland, he only played in 29 due to injury and was constrained by other ailments in the ones he did appear. In 2019, he dealt with a sports hernia and underwent postseason surgery to repair a core muscle injury. The following year, he tore his ACL in week 7 causing him to miss the rest of that season and the first two games of the next one. Soon after returning to the field, he injured his shoulder, which has been nagging him ever since.
Since 2016, Beckham has only played a full season once. In that span, he has not caught more than 80 passes, gained more than 1,100 yards, or scored more than 6 touchdowns. This is not to say that he is incapable of doing so or that he will never again perform the feats that came so easily to him before with any regularity. Perhaps in a less structured offense, with a quarterback more open to improvisation, Beckham will thrive again. As someone who likes watching world-class athletes doing awe-inspiring things, I hope he does.
My favorite moment Beckham had with the Browns came in last year’s Week 4 match-up against the Cowboys. Beckham had caught two early touchdown passes helping Cleveland go up 41-14 heading into the fourth quarter. However, the Browns defense promptly gave up 24 points, making it a three-point game with just under four minutes remaining. After leading by 27 minutes before, Cleveland now needed to find a way to hold on and avoid a humiliating loss.
On the first play of their next possession, Baker Mayfield faked a handoff to Kareem Hunt before pitching the ball to Beckham on an end-around. They had run the same play in the first quarter, getting 24 yards thanks to Beckham’s slippery speed, but this time, a defender was ready for it. Aldon Smith had gotten into the backfield untouched and reached out to tackle Beckham for what would have been a 12-yard loss.
But Beckham was faster than Smith, as well as everyone else on the Cowboys. Once he made Smith miss, it was just a matter of evading a few defenders and outrunning the rest. It was a game-clinching 50-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game, and an emphatic reminder of why you trade for a player of Beckham’s abilities whenever you have the chance. Now though, it is also a desultory symbol of all that Cleveland fans hoped for when news of the trade came through and all that we only occasionally got to see.
In the statement released by the team Friday morning, the team wrote that “it is in the best interest of all parties involved that Odell no longer play for the Cleveland Browns.” That’s certainly a true statement, but it still bums me out.