CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the video in the player above is from a previous story.
Odell Beckham Jr. is officially on the open market. After going unclaimed on waivers the former Cleveland Browns wide receiver is now a free agent and able to sign with any team.
Beckham's arrival on the free agent comes one day after the Browns officially released the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver following a week's worth of drama. After catching just one pass for six yards in Cleveland's Week 8 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Beckham reportedly asked for a trade. Hours ahead of the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday, Beckham's father, Odell Beckham Sr., posted an 11-minute and 24-second long video clip of quarterback Baker Mayfield missing his son on various throws throughout the 2021 season to his verified Instagram account. Additionally, Beckham's friend and NBA superstar LeBron James took to Twitter to encourage the Browns to part ways with the 2014 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
"OBJ will show again why he’s special. WR1 #FreeOBJ," James tweeted.
After being unable to find a deal to trade Beckham, the Browns excused the LSU product from their Wednesday and Thursday practices. On Friday -- Beckham's 29th birthday -- the team officially announced that it would release him, although the move ultimately didn't occur until Monday.
“To be honest, this really is not about the video," Browns general manager Andrew Berry said on Friday. "It is really about a series of discussions, certainly over the last week but even spanning back longer than that. At times, I do think that whether you want to call it a level of frustration that exists that just really just makes it difficult to have a productive reconciliation.”
After being released by Cleveland, Beckham was subjected to waivers, where the remainder of his revised contract with the Browns could be claimed by any team in the league. But with Beckham still having $7.25 million in salary remaining on his deal for this season, it appeared unlikely he would be claimed as only nine teams had enough cap space to do so.
It shouldn't take long for Beckham to find a new home as he has already been linked to the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks since being granted his release last week. As for Cleveland, the Browns have already moved forward, beating the Cincinnati Bengals 41-16 in their first game since agreeing to release their star receiver on Sunday.