CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns have gotten the sense that Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is excited to start a new chapter in his NFL career after a trade from the New York Giants earlier this month.
And despite Beckham Jr. needing a few days to process the changes in his life, team executives believe he will report on time for the start of offseason workouts April 1.
“He seems fired up and ready to roll,” coach Freddie Kitchens said at the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix. “That’s exactly what we want him to do.”
After taking a few days away from social media last week, Beckham Jr. emerged “feeling dangerous,” and seemingly, embracing the fresh start to his career in Cleveland following the much-publicized trade on the first day of the new league year.
In addition to “feeling dangerous,” Beckham Jr. changed his profile and background pictures to reflect his new team.
Beckham Jr.’s profile picture is of himself wearing a No. 13 Browns “Color Rush” jersey, and at the top of his page is an artistic creation featuring him and former LSU teammate Jarvis Landry in “Color Rush” uniforms. Beckham Jr. posted the same photo to Instagram with a reference to the superhero movie, “Black Panther.”
“His life was turned upside down two weeks ago,” Kitchens said. “Up until two weeks ago, he thought his first reporting date was mid-April. Just from getting to know him, I know he wants to get there with his teammates, so I can promise you he’s trying to do everything he can to be there on April 1.”
Over 59 regular-season games, including 56 starts, in five years with the Giants, Beckham Jr. turned 622 targets into 390 receptions for 5,476 yards and 44 touchdowns. Beckham Jr. averaged 92.8 yards per game, including a league-best 108.8 during the 2014 season.
Beckham Jr. has put four 1,000-yard and three double-digit touchdown seasons on his resume since being selected with a first-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Last season, Beckham Jr. turned in a 77-catch, 1,052-yard, six-touchdown effort for the Giants.
Beckham Jr. was a three-time Pro Bowl selection (2014-2016) and two-time Second Team All-Pro honoree (2015-2016) during his five years with the Giants.
“If you have talent, you have a chance, but there’s a lot of people with talent that don’t succeed as a team,” Kitchens said. “The NFL is full of them, talented players thrown together as a team and expected to win. It doesn’t happen like that. The difference between being good and elite is the passion that separates those two.
“We’re going to play with passion. We’re going to practice with passion. We’re going to meet with passion because I think we’ve surrounded ourselves with passionate people. I don’t mind passion at all because that puts you in an elite category. When you can add the good and excellent to passion, it becomes elite. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also looking forward to the journey it’s going to take to get there.”
