The Cleveland Browns are one of the several teams that have started training camp. Rookies showed up at CrossCounty Mortgage Campus in Berea, OH, on Friday, while the veterans will make their way to camp on Tuesday, July 22.
There’s a lot of intrigue surrounding the Browns’ training camp this summer, as they have four quarterbacks vying for the starting job, which likely won’t be solved until the end of preseason.
Additionally, the Browns are ushering in a new era in the backfield, and they have a bunch of jobs up for grabs in the wide receiver room. Cleveland has one known commodity in its WR room, and that’s Jerry Jeudy; everybody else is a question mark.
Whoever doesn’t make the Browns’ 53-man roster in the wide receiver room will hopefully bounce back to the practice squad. Meanwhile, other players will pack their bags and head to free agency.
Former Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. Still Available in Free Agency
Speaking of free agency, several former Browns are still waiting for a phone call to be invited to training camp. Guys like D’Onta Freeman, Tyler Huntley, Amari Cooper, Za’Darius Smith, and Jadeveon Clowney can still help a respective team if given the chance.
And then there’s former star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham has been hindered by injuries over the years, which have derailed his career. The last time we saw him playing in a regular-season game was with the Miami Dolphins last season.
The ex-Cleveland standout pass catcher appeared in nine games with the Dolphins, where he only had nine receptions (18 targets) for 55 yards. His performance, or lack thereof, was a far cry from what he saw from Beckham in 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens.
With the Ravens, Beckham didn’t look like the guy we saw in Los Angeles or Cleveland, but still put up respectable numbers. The veteran wide receiver had 35 receptions (64 targets) for 565 yards and three touchdowns.
The Dolphins waived Beckham Jr. on December 13, 2024, after activating the former Browns wide receiver from the PUP (physically unable to perform list) at the beginning of October.
Browns fans remembered when Beckham arrived in Cleveland and the excitement he brought to the city, as fans were happy to have a Pro Bowl-caliber wide receiver. He balled out in his first year with the Browns in 2019, posting 74 receptions (133 targets) for 1,035 yards and four scores.
However, the injury bug hit Beckham the next year, as he sustained a torn ACL, putting him out for the rest of the 2020 campaign. The former Browns star finished that season with 23 catches (43 targets) for 319 yards and three scores in seven games.
Beckham Jr. returned for the 2021 campaign, but played in six games before Cleveland waived him in November. He immediately signed with the Los Angeles Rams days later and won a Super Bowl.
The last few years have been rough for Beckham Jr., who was once viewed as one of the NFL’s best wide receivers not too long ago. However, the injuries have zapped some of his incredible plays and skills we’ve grown to love. That said, it will be interesting to see if he gets signed at any point this summer to see if he still got it, or at least looks like 2023 OBJ.