Just how bad is Cleveland Browns locker room?
By Randy Gurzi
The Cleveland Browns made headlines on Tuesday for all the wrong reasons, but just how bad are things going to be in that locker room going forward?
Things are spiraling out of control for the Cleveland Browns.
A season that once had so much promise is now on the brink of implosion as the team is 4-4 with a crucial game this coming weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals. However, the focus hasn’t been on their surprising AFC North counterpart but instead on a war between supporters of Baker Mayfield and those who are in favor of Odell Beckham, Jr.
To their credit, neither player has come out and publicly said a word against one another. But they also both stayed eerily silent on Tuesday as a “#FreeOBJ” campaign was going viral ahead of the trade deadline. And it wasn’t just fans — or random NBA players commenting on it — but also OBJ’s dad.
Odell Beckham, Sr. posted a video (which was disgustingly sideways) that spanned 11 minutes long and included one highlight after another of Beckham, Jr. running free with Mayfield not throwing him the ball.
This wasn’t the first time a family member of the team was seen on social media pushing an agenda of support for their loved one, which could be seen as a knock on their teammates. Earlier in the season, Emily Mayfield took to Instagram to rip fans who were blaming her husband, Baker Mayfield, for their loss to the Chargers.
Naturally, her reaction made its way to the major media outlets and notorious Baker-hater Colin Cowherd took issue with it.
On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with what took place from either family member. They want it to be known they are fully supportive but the truth is, this could do nothing but drive a bigger wedge between these two superstars in a locker room that is already having issues due to their inability to win games — they have now lost three of their last four contests.
Much has been made of the “culture” in Cleveland and far too often we have declared it changed when they still have just one winning season since 2007. And they are now following up that winning campaign with a year that feels far too similar to the 2019 Freddie Kitchens debacle.
Tuesday’s drama seems as though it could divide the locker room even further and in the end, the Browns probably should have moved Beckham at the deadline just to try and fix whatever is broken with this team.
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They’re hedging their bets, however, that they can get is solved with him — and that’s quite a gamble considering how shaky things seem to be right now.