WESTFIELD, Indiana — Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has yet to play a regular-season game with Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, but after nearly a month of practice, including a pair of joint sessions with the Indianapolis Colts in Westfield, Indiana this week, he can tell there is something special about the second-year signal-caller.
Just by watching Mayfield handle his business, both on and off the football field, Beckham Jr. can tell the offense appears to be in capable hands heading into a 2019 season marked by high expectations, externally and internally.
“I was around him a lot during the offseason,” Beckham Jr. said following Thursday’s practice. “We would go out to eat. We would do all that, but to be able to see him in his element in football, I love the leader he is. I love his attitude, his swagger. I love all that about him. It’s what made him, him.”
Beckham Jr. is close friends with Browns receiver Jarvis Landry, with whom he played college ball at LSU. By watching Landry’s highlights from 2018, Beckham Jr. saw what Mayfield did to help start the turnaround for a franchise that has known nothing but struggles since returning to the National Football League ahead of the 1999 season.
After taking over the first-team offense in the second quarter of a Week 3 win over the New York Jets, Mayfield completed 310 of his 486 attempts (63.8 percent) for 3,725 yards and 27 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.
Under the direction of new Browns coach Freddie Kitchens, the interim offensive coordinator for the second half of the 2018 season, Mayfield completed 180 of his 263 attempts (68.4 percent) for 2,254 yards and 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Although Mayfield does not get official credit for the victory over the Jets because he came on in relief of an injured Tyrod Taylor, the first-year quarterback guided the Browns to seven wins and the greatest single-year turnaround in franchise history.
“I had heard something that coach said: ‘He’s one of those people who had been told no all his life, so he wants to show you yes,’”
“It’s similar for me, so I understand him. That’s why I say I don’t really want to let him down. He’s somebody who’s worked to get to where they’re at and who was doubted pretty much all their life, so I understand him. I get him.”
Mayfield’s presence is one of the reasons why Beckham Jr. welcomed the offseason trade from the New York Giants back in March.
Although Beckham Jr. has been limited in training camp as he works through a hip issue, the multi-time Pro Bowl pass catcher believes the offense will click when everybody takes the field for the regular-season opener against the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland on Sunday, September 8.
“Me and him, we talk every day,” Beckham Jr. said. “We talk football. We talk about just the little ins and outs of football. Even when I’m watching him make other throws, I’m still coming to ask him what is it that you’re seeing.
“We just talked football today, so it’s not something I’m worried about. It’s two competitive, fiery people, just the way that he is, I don’t want to let him down. So I’m going to do everything in my power to be exactly where I need to be when I need to be there and as I’ve seen already he’s going to deliver that ball.”