CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has difference-making speed and catching abilities when he is on the football field, but is he the kind of player that can be elite while helping an organization find success in the postseason?
That is a question Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated’s “MMQB” tried to answer in an appearance on “The Bull and Fox Show” on Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan earlier this week while at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.
“When has this guy ever been the best player on a really good team?” Breer asked co-host Dustin Fox. “If you sell on him now, you’re selling low, but I sort of wonder, ‘Is this guy a winning player?’ I’m not putting all the blame on him, but is that a fair question to ask?”
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Beckham Jr. made headlines for all of the wrong reasons in the week that followed LSU’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game victory over Clemson on January 13, but he got a bit of good news right in time for the weekend.
According to NOLA.com, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome security officer who Beckham Jr. slapped on the backside while celebrating in the locker room signed an affidavit stating that “he did not wish to press charges against Beckham.”
Earlier this week, New Orleans police issued a warrant for Beckham Jr.’s arrest on a count of simple battery.
Following LSU’s 42-25 victory over Clemson, Beckham Jr. could not contain his excitement, and part of that postgame celebration might have gotten the attention of the NCAA.
Beckham Jr. was seen giving a handful of cash to wide receiver Justin Jefferson after the junior wide receiver caught nine passes for 106 yards in the victory, and it was not George Washington’s picture on those bills.
Beckham Jr. handed Jefferson a handful of $100 bills as the LSU junior said, “Let me see it. Let me see it.”
While school officials initially claimed the money was fake, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow said the bills were, in fact, real. Now, LSU is looking into the situation.
“I’m starting to look at it like in the NFL, the best team he was on lost in the wildcard round and lost in a really ugly way in the wildcard round,” Breer said. “Then, you go back to college. His last year in college on that offense: Jarvis Landry, Jeremy Hill, two stud NFL linemen in La’el Collins and Trai Turner, an NFL quarterback in Zach Mettenberger. They went 9-3.”
Beckham Jr. reunited with an LSU teammate in Landry and former position coach Adam Henry in 2019, and they finished the season Nos. 1 and 2 on the team in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns among wide receivers.
Landry converted his 83 receptions into 1,174 yards, a 14.1 yards-per-reception average and a team-best six touchdowns, while Beckham Jr. gained 1,035 yards and scored four touchdowns on his 74 catches. Beckham Jr. averaged 14.0 yards per reception.
“There are two sides to this,” Breer said. “The first side is if you’re selling him now, you’re selling low on him. I don’t think you’re getting the same value the Giants got when they traded him to you. The second thing is I don’t know that he’s a winning player.”