CLEVELAND — Could Odell Beckham Jr. be a “one-and-done” player with the Cleveland Browns and continue his NFL career somewhere else in 2020?
According to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, the talented Browns receiver has made it known that he wants out of Cleveland at year’s end.
“People are now surprised about what’s happening and would he stay in Cleveland?” Glazer said on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show. “Players and coaches around the league, they’re not…Throughout the year, Odell Beckham’s actually told other players and coaches, before games, during games, ‘Hey, come get me. Come get me out of here.’
“Remember, it was not Odell Beckham’s choice to go to the Cleveland Browns. He got traded there. There’s also reports that he needs sports hernia surgery. I’ve got to say, I don’t see that relationship ending well for them.”
When Beckham Jr. addressed the media Thursday, he was vague in his response to questions about whether he wanted to remain with the Browns beyond the 2019 season.
“No one knows what the future holds tomorrow,” Beckham Jr. said to reporters. “I couldn’t tell you what’s going to happen. 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. God has a plan. In the offseason, everything will figure itself out.
In 12 games this season, his first with the Browns, Beckham Jr. has converted his 57 receptions into 805 yards, a 14.1 yards-per-catch average, with a long play of 89 yards and two touchdowns. Also, Beckham Jr. has rushed for 10 yards on three carries.
Beckham Jr. is second only to his close friend and former Louisiana State University teammate, Jarvis Landry, on the Browns in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Beckham Jr. is tied for the best yards-per-reception average among wide receivers and has the team’s longest scrimmage play of the season, regardless of position.
“Odell has not been a problem at all,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “Really, if it was not Odell, we would not be even asking these questions about that kind of outlier-type stuff. Odell has been fine. He has been good. Helps everybody, helps the young guys. Baker and Odell have a good dialogue. Everything is good.”
Although versatile enough to score from any position on the field, most of Beckham Jr.’s receptions have come in long yardage situations, as 38 of his 57 catches have needed 10 or more yards to secure a first down. Thirty-one of his receptions have come between the Browns’ 21-yard line and midfield.
When the Browns have gotten into the red zone, Beckham Jr. has been targeted with only seven passes and turned one of those into just catch and a pair of pass interference penalties, while his two touchdowns have come from 89 and 35 yards out.
“He wants to be the solution to helping us win, and he really just wants to win when it comes to it,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said.
Glazer was one of the first to report last offseason that Beckham Jr. was going to get traded from the New York Giants and dealt he was in the opening hours of the new league year.
The Browns sent safety Jabrill Peppers and a pair of picks in the 2019 NFL Draft, including a first-rounder, to the Giants in exchange for Beckham Jr. back in March.
Beckham Jr. is under contract through the 2023 season, but there is an opt-out clause in the deal ahead of 2020.