CLEVELAND — When Odell Beckham Jr. suffered a torn ACL in the Cleveland Browns' win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week, it brought an end to his 2020 season.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the injury may have also ended the star wide receiver's career in Cleveland.
Appearing on NFL GameDay on Sunday morning, Rapoport discussed Beckham's injury as it relates to his future with the Browns. And in doing so, the NFL insider reported that there's a strong possibility that the next time Beckham suits up for a game, he'll be doing so for another team.
"From my understanding, there is a very real possibility that he has played his final game with the Cleveland Browns," Rapoport said. "Based on his contract, they could not cut him if they did want to move on. He's got $12 million that is going to be fully guaranteed right around the start of the league year when he is not yet healthy enough to be moved so he is going to be on the roster at the start of the league year. If they did want to trade him, it would probably be around the spring or the summer.
"Beckham has never fully embraced Cleveland, he's never had a good rapport with Baker Mayfield. And as we saw last week, they may be playing better without him."
Earlier this week, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski disputed the notion that his team is better without its 3-time Pro Bowl receiver.
"I do reject that, yes," Stefanski answered when asked about the theory. “Not smart enough to make an argument for that. I’ll just tell you I’d rather have [No.] 13 on the field if available to us."
Still, that likely won't stop Beckham's name from becoming prevalent in trade rumors next offseason, just as they have been since he was acquired by Cleveland from the New York Giants in 2019.