Browns Reveal Plan For Odell Beckham Going Forward

The Cleveland Browns are excited to have Odell Beckham Jr. back on the field but will be taking a careful approach as he returns to action.

Beckham was an active participant during the first day of training camp, catching passes and looking sharp in individual drills. He was a light participant in minicamp last month and also attended some workouts during the offseason with quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said he’s met with Beckham and says they’ll listen to the doctors when it comes to the next steps with the star pass-catcher.

“With Odell – very similar to a lot of guys – they have an individual plan that is tailored to them and where they are in their rehab,” Stefanski told reporters on Wednesday. “We will bring him along at the discretion of the doctors, our medical team and Odell and see how he is feeling. Had a good meeting with him last night. He is doing well.”

Beckham Running His ‘Own Race’ When it Comes to Injury

Beckham appears to be on schedule for the start of the season, although he did cast some doubt on that with a statement this week at his youth camp.

“At this point, we’re just running our race,” Beckham said. “I feel like in the past, I’ve been caught up in this question. I’m not really here for it anymore. Whenever I’m ready to get out on the field, that’s when it will be. Whenever the team, the docs, my team, gets cleared, we’ll be ready to go. Whenever that is, Week 1, Week 17, I don’t know. Whenever we’re ready, we’ll be ready.”

Beckham is trying not to let external expectations set the tone for his return, minimizing the ego that goes into it.

“You get hurt and we’re all men and we want to show everyone we’re a man and we want to come back,” Beckham said, per Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “It (becomes) all this ego challenge. I’m not really in it for all that anymore because I don’t feel like I really have anything to prove except to myself and me wanting to be the best.”

Beckham played in just seven games last year before suffering the season-ending knee injury, recording 23 catches on 43 targets for 319 yards and three touchdowns. He should be a big addition to an expanded version of Stefanski’s offense and the Browns are happy to have him back for a full camp.

“We are grateful to have him out here,” his good friend and fellow Browns WR Jarvis Landry said. “To see him moving around, running around and stuff like that, we are looking forward to having him back.”

Beckham was on the sideline for the second half of the season, when the Browns really hit their stride offensivley. Taking the next step and progressing starts in training camp, as Landry pointed out.

“Just keep understanding who we are, our identity and how we are trying to get better. Obviously, it starts here in training camp,” Landry told reporters. “We took an evaluation of how we did last year. Whether it was penalties or whether it was turnovers, those are things that we can try to eliminate and take those numbers down a little bit, and it gives us a better chance to win some of the games that we may not have.”

The Browns open the regular season on September 12 against the Chiefs.

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