Odell Beckham Jr. making quiet impact for Cleveland Browns

Odell Beckham Jr. may not be making a bunch of highlight plays for the Cleveland Browns, but he is still making a quiet impact for the offense.

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was expected to jump into the Cleveland offense and become the alpha male of the receiving corps after being acquired in the offseason. Instead, Beckham has struggled to get his hands on the ball.

Defenses are keying on Beckham by using bracket coverage to prevent him from gaining space to make plays. It has worked out well, as Beckham has been blanketed with coverage in each of the first four games.

He still has been able to make some plays, catching 21 receptions for 308 yards and one touchdown. His lone touchdown came on a catch and run against the New York Jets, using his speed to break away from the defenders for an 89-yard touchdown.

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But since that play Week 2, Beckham has been limited to short plays. He has struggled to turn his targets into receptions, mostly because of tight coverage. But even though he is not making plays, he is still making an impact for the Browns.

It was noticeable Week 4 that the Baltimore Ravens were going to do whatever possible to limit Beckham. They were using safeties to double Beckham over top, which prevented many windows for Baker Mayfield to throw into. Beckham catching two of his seven targets for 20 yards was the results of Baltimore’s game plan.

However, Beckham noticeably played a large role in a touchdown and one of Cleveland’s explosive plays. On Cleveland’s first touchdown, caught by Ricky Seals-Jones, the Browns used Beckham to catch the attention of Baltimore’s defense.

Beckham and Seals-Jones both ran shallow crosses across the middle of the field. As Beckham and Seals-Jones met in the middle of the field, Beckham caught the eyes of the zone coverage in the middle of the field. That caused the zone defenders to freeze for a second, which helped Seals-Jones get across the formation to be wide open, as well as a designed rub by Demetrius Harris, for a walk-in touchdown.

Later in the game, Seals-Jones made a 59-yard reception down the sideline. Lined up in the slot with Beckham on the outside, Seals-Jones ran a vertical route angled towards the sideline that left him wide open. But the reason why he was left wide open was because the safety in charge of covering Seals-Jones saw Beckham run a short curl route and attempted to jump on the route. His decision left Seals-Jones wide open for the big play.

Beckham is also noticeably running all over the field to help block. He is showing the extra effort that is not typically shown from star receivers who are not getting the ball. But he is doing whatever he can to help the offense excel.

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He may not be making the highlight-reel catches, but Beckham has been making a large impact for the Browns offense. Defenses will not be able to focus all of their attention on Beckham every snap, so he will have his opportunities to make plays. His impact may not be noticeable on the stat sheet, but the offense’s successful blueprint against the Ravens has Beckham’s fingerprints all over it.

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