Amid the disappointment that is the Browns' 2019 season, several players reportedly have told opposing teams to "come get me," with star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. supposedly starting the chant earlier in the season.
OBJ might as well save his breath, because he is not going anywhere — except on vacation in two weeks when Cleveland's season ends far shy of expectations.
Beckham is going to have to sit tight for at least one more year unless another team makes a trade offer that’s too good for Browns general manager John Dorsey to refuse. Which is unlikely given Beckham’s reputation as a diva personality who will second-guess his coaches. He also has had his share of significant injuries over his six-year career, which is a further deterrent to other teams.
After just one season with Beckham, Dorsey is not going to give away a player for whom he gave up first- and third-round picks and a starting safety (Jabrill Peppers). There also will be no dead money from trading or releasing Beckham for the Browns to absorb on their salary cap beginning in 2021.
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Despite alleged votes of confidence for coach Freddie Kitchens, he and/or several of his assistants are more likely to take the fall for a 6-8 team that is undisciplined and underproductive based on expectations.
Kitchens also has the issue of being responsible for the slow development of last year’s No. 1 overall pick in quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has regressed badly in his second season (from a 93.7 rating in his rookie season with 27 TD passes and 13 INTs to a 78.7 rating — 33rd in the league — with 17 TD passes against 17 interceptions). This despite his playing with the league’s leading rusher in Nick Chubb and the talented receiver duo of Beckham and Jarvis Landry, another alleged malcontent who reportedly wants out.
Going into the last two games against the Ravens and Bengals, Beckham is headed for career lows in receiving yards per game (65), receptions per game (4.78) and touchdown receptions (2 so far). He has made paradoxical comments in recent weeks about his Browns future.
Following his 3 catches for 29 yards in Cleveland’s loss to Pittsburgh two weeks ago that basically knocked the Browns out of the playoff race, Beckham said, "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. This is exactly where I'm at now and I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else."
But to feed his media-craving ego and keep the tease out there, he added, "Catch me in the offseason and see what happens." Which he quickly pulled back on by tweeting that he wasn’t saying he was unhappy in Cleveland; just looking for better results.
Trust me as a former NFL GM. Those types of statements will scare off most teams from wanting any part of a player like Beckham. And they will certainly lower any potential trade offers to where no GM is going to part with a first round pick — which would be Dorsey’s asking price at a minimum. If he accepted anything less, he'd be admitting it was a mistake to make the deal with the Giants in March.
The path of least resistance for Dorsey and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is to make yet another coaching change, which would be Haslam’s seventh in the nine years he will have owned the team. That would give Beckham and Mayfield a fresh start with a coach who, if he’s the right hire (a questionable notion in the case of the Browns), will be more up to the task.
These Browns need a makeover on the field scheme-wise in order to get their young QB back on track and to target their star receivers much more often. The defense must return to its turnover-forcing ways from last season (18 thus far vs. 31 last season) to give the offense more short fields.
The Browns also appear to need a team psychologist to get everyone focused on team success and avoiding incidents such as the Myles Garrett helmet-swinging fiasco against the Steelers.
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I said it back in March, and I’ll say it again: I never thought the Beckham trade would bring great dividends to the Browns and their beleaguered franchise that is now guaranteed to have its 12th straight non-winning season and 17th straight year out of the playoffs. That’s really hard to do in a league that rewards losing teams with high draft picks, an earlier crack at the waiver wire and weaker schedules.
Beckham never chose Cleveland as his destination via trade. He wants to be a celebrity more than a great football player and thus seeks the limelight and bright lights of a New York or Los Angeles. I felt it was inevitable that he would want out of Cleveland even if the team was successful on the field.
The fact that the 2019 Browns are downtrodden only expedites Beckham’s irrepressible desires to get the heck out of Dodge.
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The best thing Beckham can do for himself is to play great while staying mostly healthy — like in his three Pro Bowl seasons in New York — and keep quiet off the field while being a model citizen. No complaining that his contract is now $3 million per year less than that of Julio Jones or whining about how he is being under-utilized in the Browns offense. No boat trips to party in Miami during the season. No photos with models in Paris where possible drug paraphernalia is in sight.
Perhaps then he can fool a GM in one of the large markets into thinking he has changed and entice that GM to either trade for him or sign him as a free agent if the Browns release him.
Nah. Such a scenario is impossible for the lightning rod that is OBJ.
Jeff Diamond is a former president of the Titans and former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He makes speaking appearances to corporate/civic groups and college classes on negotiation and sports business/sports management. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.
