Cleveland Browns: 5 reasons to trade Odell Beckham this off-season

Declining play

The apologists for Beckham will tell you that he played with Eli Manning and Baker Mayfield and that it’s totally not Beckham’s fault that his numbers dropped off in years four, five and six, compared to his first, second and third seasons. They’ll tell you that Mayfield is just a bum (he’s not) and that Manning couldn’t get him the ball (except he could). They’ll fail to acknowledge that his play was all about his athletic, daredevil type of play. Play that took a toll on him and made him take a pounding physically.

Play that left him dealing with injury, after injury, after injury, after injury. Here Beckham is again, eight weeks into 2020 and he’s already had surgery to fix a “core” issue he was dealing with all season. So his ankles are shot, his hip and thighs are shot, and now his core is shot. Oh, he’s also had neck and back issues. Yeah, but you’re right, he’s still totally capable of being the same player he once was.

Prologue injuries don’t affect athleticism at all. Nope (sarcasm).

Beckham may still be a reliable 1,000-yard receiver, that’s entirely still possible. It’s just not likely. With each passing year, and the amount of wear and tear on him, it’s far more likely that he’ll be lucky to break 1,000 yards, let alone 1,400 or 1,500 like he used to. He’s just not as nimble or quick as he used to be. Nor can he take sustained banging across a full season.

He’s playing well enough that if he were just a second option, on a mid four or five million dollar deal, and wasn’t a headcase or a problematic player, then this wouldn’t be a question. He’d be perfect. Yet, that’s not the situation. Beckham is over-paid for his production, he is unreliable as a person to make smart decisions, he is prone to injury and he is someone who has had his play decline. Be it by bad quarterback play or injuries that affected his physical attributes.