It’s no secret that Odell Beckham Jr. and the Cleveland Browns have struggled this season, but one jarring stat shines an even brighter light on this.
Before we share the stat, we’re going to look back to the end of Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Denver Broncos. With the game on the line, needing to convert on 4th-and-4 from the 28-yard line, Beckham Jr. got open down the left sideline.
Here’s a look at video of the play, which shows Beckham lifting his hand to let Baker Mayfield know he had beaten his man. Yet Mayfield didn’t even look his way.
As you’ll note, the CBS sideline reporter shared that Beckham said, “I can’t get the ball to save my life” after that play — though OBJ said afterward he didn’t remember saying that.
Regardless, this play highlights what has been a problem all year long: Mayfield isn’t looking to get Beckham the ball in clutch situations. Now, amplifying that fact with incredible intensity is a stat that just should not exist, courtesy of NFL insider Dov Kleiman:
Three. Red. Zone. Targets. All. Year.
The elite receivers in the league should get that many in one game. Beckham and the Browns have played in eight games this year!
When the Browns traded for Beckham Jr. this past March, I wrote that this young receiver was set to have a career year. After all, Mayfield was phenomenal last year, and OBJ was joining an offense that already was bursting with talent.
What’s transpired in 2019 is nothing short of an embarrassing failure on Cleveland’s part to get one of the NFL’s best playmakers involved. The burden of responsibility absolutely falls on the shoulders of head coach Freddie Kitchens. He’s been brutally bad all year.
It is clear now that the Browns erred in a significant way giving a coach who had just one-half season experience as a coordinator the job of leading the organization.