The Cleveland Browns released Odell Beckham Jr. on Friday and now the team is free of their diva wide receiver and ready to roll again
What a relief. That’s where my mindset is after the Cleveland Browns announced that they had released wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. from the team. He will now join another team as he’s entered the waiver wire so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’m relieved because the heartache and headaches that came from having Beckham on your team far outweighed whatever competitive edge you might have thought the Browns had with him on the squad. Beckham was simply a detriment to this team’s growth.
The problems that OBJ and Baker Mayfield experienced on the field were excruciating to watch. They never clicked. They could never get on the same page. Who’s fault was it? Probably both, but the eye test from a year ago and the current season have certainly shown that Mayfield did worse with Beckham on the field.
With that, let’s dive into some rather bold predictions for the Browns now that they’ve been freed from Beckham.
Cleveland Browns prediction No. 5: Baker Mayfield will have an MVP season the rest of the way
How dramatic was it to watch the game last year when the Browns played the Cincinnati Bengals? Beckham goes down with an injury and Mayfield decides to roll off 21 straight completions and helps beat the Bengals with a perfect throw to wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones in the closing seconds. That was just one example of where Mayfield played amazing football and helped the team reach the playoffs.
Now that Beckham is gone, I believe the field will open up for Mayfield like the parting of the Red Sea. Passing to players or targets will be deadly accurate and Mayfield will play with a renewed sense of urgency and confidence.
The Browns quarterback only has six touchdown throws this season. He had five in the one game last year against these same Bengals. Does he throw for five or six touchdowns in this one? Both the Browns and Bengals have been known to have some high-scoring affairs.
No longer can the absence of Beckham be used as an excuse for Mayfield’s current mediocre play. Do I think he’ll throw 21 straight caught passes again this season? Maybe, but what is more important to him, is that the Browns win the game and he plays better. I certainly believe this will happen now.
Cleveland Browns prediction No. 4: This team is playoff-bound
At the start of the season, the Browns were easily going to make the playoffs if you just went by the team that was listed on paper and from the numerous media outlets that predicted the team would certainly get to the playoffs like a year ago.
That big picture of the team has dwindled substantially over the last month as the team lost two games in a row, also lost to the Steelers last week while competing in the most competitive division in the NFL in the AFC North.
So maybe this isn’t the biggest bold prediction, but considering the circumstances over the last few weeks and the news of Odell Beckham flying the coop, then this possibility is still a stretch. It starts with winning one game on Sunday against the Bengals.
Honestly, the whole notion and universal idea out of Berea of “winning the week” hasn’t been heard at all as all these losses have piled up. Hopefully, Kevin Stefanski will get back to projecting that image to the team more. It certainly was a winning formula a year ago.
Cleveland Browns prediction No. 3: Donovan Peoples-Jones will reach 1,000 yards on the season
Now, this is a stretch but this is very doable if Donovan Peoples-Jones can stay healthy. There was a lot of excitement surrounding Peoples-Jones when he started the year as he had a nice training camp. Last season the young receiver only had 304 yards receiving on 14 catches.
This season he’s been targeted 15 times for 13 catches and 228 yards to this point. He’s been nursing a groin injury but should be back in the lineup Sunday. The two games prior to his injury he was averaging 85 yards in reception yards.
He’s a tall receiver and was really starting to make a good connection with Mayfield before the injury. He can stretch the defense with his speed and I fully expect Peoples-Jones to run the proper routes and get open downfield for the team.
Cleveland Browns prediction No. 2: Jarvis Landry will request a trade or release by season’s end
It’s always a fun conversation to have with those that always talk about the NFL as solely being about business. The idea that if Beckham walked that other Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry would be cool and keep playing for the Browns at 100%.
Landry and Beckham go way back as friends and played football together in college at LSU and now they played together in the NFL. Landry will hopefully play out the season without much uproar, but I fully expect him to demand a trade by season’s end because his buddy just got released.
Friendships do have more power than some like to admit. A lot of fans of the team would like Landry to stay as he’s not a free agent until 2023. But other fans would like the Browns to part way with him and his $14 million salary.
The reason Beckham came to Cleveland, in the first place had more to do with Landry being here than just being solely about business. Obviously, the Browns threw the kitchen sink into the offer but Landry being here cushioned the blow to Beckham, who regardless of what some like to spin in the media, was and has always been about himself and wanted nothing to do with being part of a recently lousy franchise. The Browns were 0-16 as recently as 2017.
This latest release of Beckham now will certainly have an effect on Landry. You’re fooling yourself if you can’t understand that effect. Landry has been a big part of the Browns success and I don’t want to see this move, but it could happen.
Cleveland Browns prediction No. 1: Lebron James will not be invited to any tryouts in the foreseeable future
Earlier this week Los Angeles Laker Lebron James and NBA megastar tweeted on his platform to free Beckham Jr. from the Browns. This was on the heels of Beckham Jr.’s father lambasting the Browns quarterback Mayfield for not getting the football to his son more often over the years.
James helped bring a championship trophy for the 2016 NBA season to Cleveland and grew up in nearby Akron, Ohio. He’s had two stints with the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers starting back in 2003.
For the local hero of the area to arrogantly get on the media platforms trying to force his local town’s football team to release Beckham is simply wrong. The Browns were put forcibly into a situation that they hadn’t started and that’s really a low ball move on the part of a former hero of the area.
So I wouldn’t expect James to get any invites at an upcoming Browns training camp. Some in the past have suggested James, who played football in high school, would be an excellent football player in the NFL.
Maybe now, he can go where Beckham lands after this release and be best buddies with him then. I’m sure it’ll work out.