CLEVELAND, Ohio — Odell Beckham Jr.’s exceptional talent has been wasted this season in what multiple sources describe as a dysfunctional Browns offense.
In the midst of his worst statistical season when healthy, Beckham was supposed to flourish and excel when paired with the big-armed and accurate Baker Mayfield, who could get him the ball deep, on sideline routes, and anywhere else on the field early and often.
He was supposed to be the icing on the cake of a talent-loaded offense and help his best friend Jarvis Landry take this team deep into the playoffs.
Instead, the Browns are 5-7 heading into Sunday’s game against the Bengals, and Beckham is floundering on an offense multiple sources consider poorly designed and poorly run. The sources believe it won’t succeed in the future unless changes are made in terms of coaching, scheme or playcalling.
Beckham, who’s battled through a groin injury all season but hasn’t missed a game, is 28th in the NFL with 57 receptions, 23rd with 805 yards, and tied for 60th with only two TD catches. He’s also ranked No. 60 among NFL receivers by profootballfocus.com.
Somehow, the Browns have taken a superstar receiver and reduced him to an above-average wideout. When Pro Bowl teams are announced later this month, Beckham will likely be a glaring omission — his first after a healthy season.
Beckham vague about being with the Browns next year: ‘What’s the future hold? I don’t know'
“I couldn’t sit here and tell you whether I’m going to be here, want to be here, don’t want to be here,’’ Beckham said Thursday. “This is exactly where I’m at now and I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. In the offseason, everything will figure itself out. Catch me in the offseason and we’ll see what happens.’’
Beckham also admitted that he’s bottled up his frustration this season and ‘there’s definitely been a concerted effort by me just to keep myself in check.’’
He noted later on Twitter that he didn’t say he wasn’t happy in Cleveland — but he’s obviously not. He didn’t want to come here in the first place, but was sold on the notion of winning big and taking the Browns to the Super Bowl with Landry.
Instead, he’s stuck on an offense that sources believe has systemic issues in its design and called by Freddie Kitchens. There’s a disconnect between offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who answers for the offense every Thursday and has jokingly called it his weekly “dentist appointment,” and Kitchens, who calls the plays on game day with input from Monken, quarterbacks coach Ryan Lindley, and some say even inactive quarterback Drew Stanton.
If Beckham and Mayfield and don’t find their groove and win, OBJ won’t want to be here
Some say the quarterbacks have too much influence, and others say there are too many cooks in with Kitchens on game day. They tried to clear the air midseason, but it apparently didn’t do much good.
The tension among some key offensive figures boiled over with 1:06 left in last Sunday’s crushing 20-13 loss to the Steelers when Lindley and Landry argued on the sidelines after Joe Haden intercepted a Mayfield pass intended for Landry — the sixth of Mayfield’s 14 picks intended for him. Linebacker Christian Kirksey had to step in and keep Landry away from Lindley.
After the loss, Landry and Beckham both bolted the locker room without speaking to the media, and Landry wasn’t available this week, a sign that he probably can’t bite his tongue. Despite requests for Landry on Friday, he failed to show. It marked the second straight week he made himself scarce.
Landry already called for the Browns to showcase Beckham this season to put the Browns over the top back in October, and gets frustrated for his BFF and the team when it fails to happen.
But the Lindley-Landry tiff was just one symptom of this underperforming unit, and the proof is in the statistics. Despite two of the best receivers and two elite running backs in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, the Browns have scored 13 points or fewer on five occasions this season, all losses, including last Sunday.
While an undrafted rookie in Devlin Hodges making his second career start was slinging passes downfield to James Washington for 111 yards, Beckham caught only three of six targets for 29 yards, the third time this season he’s been limited to yardage in the 20s, and a career-long sixth straight time he’s fallen short of 100 yards.
The Browns still believe that Baker Mayfield is the answer, but he hasn’t taken that 25% jump that John Dorsey was looking for this season, in part because of the inefficient offense, sources say. The Browns still struggle to get plays in on time, often line up incorrectly, and Landry has occasionally called a timeout to head off disaster. When the Browns go off script, sources say, the play calling suffers.
In this Season of Great Expectations, Mayfield has thrown the third-most interceptions in the NFL, and is last in key statistical categories such as rating (33rd at 79.9) and completion percentage (33rd at 60.0). He has one TD pass against four interceptions when trailing with four minutes or less in the fourth quarter. He’s fallen woefully behind his 2018 classmate Lamar Jackson, who’s fourth in the league with a 109.6 rating, and is behind others in his class such as Josh Allen (88.3) and Sam Darnold (84.0).
In most cases, Mayfield has more talent at the skill positions, especially now that Hunt is on the field.
Beckham not ‘super-excited’ about his second TD of the season after 8-game drought
The Browns are pitiful on third down (27th) and the red zone (20th with 22 touchdown in 41 trips), including 1-for-3 last week. The red zone is especially disturbing considering the Browns have the NFL’s leading rusher in Chubb (1,175 yards) and two multiple Pro Bowl receivers in Beckham and Landry. Yards are gained, but when the chips are down, there aren’t many touchdowns. At this point in this season — with Chubb and Hunt in the backfield and less double-teaming of Beckham — it’s inexcusable.
Of course, the Browns aren’t suffering from anything that an afternoon with the 1-11 Bengals probably won’t ease — although they’re coming off their first win. If it’s anything like last year, Mayfield will emerge with some stat-padding TDs that might mask the unit’s problems. Last season, seven of his 19 TD passes in the second half came against the Bengals. He’ll get to do it all over again in the season finale.
But the Browns had a prime opportunity this season to take two amazing receivers and ride them to the playoffs, and now they have about a 5% chance according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.
They have a superstar in their midst in Beckham, almost the caliber of a LeBron James. Yet they didn’t come close to making it a high-enough priority to get him the ball, help carry the team and most importantly, keep him happy in the process.
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