The Cleveland Browns defeated the lowly Bengals 27-19 on Sunday to improve to 6-7 on the year after a disaster 2-6 start. The up-and-down season for Cleveland is a far cry from the offseason hype the team received after trading for superstar receiver Odell Beckham Jr. from the Giants. Many thought that OBJ would plug right in as second-year QB Baker Mayfield’s too target, but that hasn’t been the case.
Instead, the sixth year receiver has battled through injuries to his groin and hip that have hindered him throughout the season.
His injury along with the Browns disappointing 6-7 season, have led Mayfield to believe the training staff did not handle his teammate’s injury the right away. He wondered that if Beckham would have gotten surgery early and missed only a couple weeks instead of playing through pain all season, if the team would be in a better position.
Baker Mayfield spoke out on this, saying the sports hernia injury to Odell “wasn’t handled right. He’s not able to run as well as he should be able to — and that’s frustrating to him.” Mayfield indicated it should’ve been addressed surgically in camp. https://t.co/XaBj0U0cWZ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 8, 2019
“I think it could have been addressed earlier on,” Mayfield told ESPN. “Looking back on it, obviously, hindsight is 20/20, he probably would’ve missed the first two (games). One or two. Just based on the fact that it was during training camp. It is what it is … he’s playing through pain. That shows you the type of guy he is.”
Beckham has had the worst season of his career, excluding 2017 when he only played in four games due to a fractured ankle. In 2019, Beckham has played all 13 games, but only had 805 yards and two touchdowns on 103 targets. It’s been so rough for Beckham in Cleveland, reports have even surfaced of him reportedly telling opposing coaches and players to “come get him” next offseason.
