Cleveland Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is planning to bounce back from one of the worst seasons of his NFL career with one of his best. To do so, the 27-year-old will need to first make a full recovery from his January surgery to address groin and hip injuries.
According to the star receiver, multiple injuries slowed him down throughout the 2019 season.
“My third week of training camp, I tear a little piece of my ab,” Beckham said. “So before the season, I kind of had the hernia thing going on. Sports hernia is what they call it. End up at the end of the season, torn abductor, torn rectus abdominis on the right.”
Beckham’s first priority is to regain his health and fitness. “Right now, what I’m trying to do is hit the reset button,” he said. “Being able to just get everything fixed. Shoulder, arms, back, everything aligned, functional, moving properly, so I can begin training to be ready for the season.”
Although Beckham racked up more than 1,000 receiving yards in 2019, he experienced his worst statistical season apart from an injury-ridden 2017, in which he was sidelined for the majority of the year.
As the Browns struggled and limped to a 6-10 record, which extended Cleveland’s playoff drought to 18 years, Beckham hauled in just four touchdown receptions.
Yet Beckham is predicting big things in 2020. “I would honestly say this is probably going to be one of my best seasons,” he said. “Bigger, stronger, faster — this is my time.”
What Beckham’s ‘Best Season’ Would Look Like
If Beckham’s prediction comes to fruition, the Browns and quarterback Baker Mayfield will have no excuse for not being one of the best offenses in football. But what exactly would it look like for Beckham to have “one of [his] best seasons?”
For starters, we’d see Beckham return to the form he was in during his first three NFL seasons. The receiver’s career has been a tale of two halves to this point, with dominant success from 2014 to 2016 and a failure to meet expectations from 2017 to 2019.
Beckham reached the Pro Bowl in each of his first three years with the Giants. He attained statistical bests in 2015 when he caught 96 passes for 1,450 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The year prior, Beckham launched himself onto the professional scene with a rookie campaign that included 91 catches for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging 108.8 yards per game.
Judging by his first three years in the league, for Beckham to experience one of his best NFL seasons, he’d have to put up at least 90 catches, 1,300 yards, and 10 touchdowns.
To have the best season of his career, Beckham would need to eclipse his career highs of 101 receptions, 1,450 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 108.8 yards per game.
Can Browns Make a Run at the Super Bowl?
If the Browns have any shot at making a run at the Super Bowl, they’ll need to experience significant improvements over a 2019 season in which they fell well short of expectations.
Cleveland’s first task will be to hit the over on their win total, which is set at 8.5 wins at FanDuel Sportsbook. If the Browns get to nine victories or more, they should be able to earn a playoff berth.
Yet Cleveland runs into a huge problem when looking up at the rest of the conference. Well ahead of the Browns’ +1700 odds of winning the AFC are the Chiefs (+300) and Ravens (+330), who appear to be in a two-team race.
When it comes to the Super Bowl, the Browns will have to kick off the season with a strong performance if they want to get themselves into the picture. For now, Cleveland owns odds of +3400 to win it all, which places them 18th among all NFL teams.
