Odell Beckham Jr.'s peculiar situation in Cleveland has turned contentious over the past week, with his father calling out Baker Mayfield on Instagram and Beckham Jr. being excused from practice all week.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski reportedly told players Beckham Jr. isn't with the team at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the former star wideout released in the next few days. Something about that relationship just didn't work.
But... which side is in the right here? Is Beckham Jr. right to be mad about a perceived lack of inclusion in the Browns' offense? Or is he not the player he once was?
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Eagles cornerback Darius Slay has some thoughts on the matter.
Slay tweeted on Wednesday night that he'd finally gotten around to watching the video posted by Beckham Sr., an 11-minute compilation of plays in which the wideout's father shows missed throws from Mayfield to his son.
You can watch the video here, if you'd like. Not every play is an obvious miss, but... yeah, Baker really does be missing that dude.
Here's what Slay had to say about the video:
And then when Chargers cornerback Chris Harris Jr. (see you Sunday!) said Beckham Jr. is "wide open", this was Slay's response:
Sooo, pretty clear which side Slay is on here.
It's always interesting to get defensive players' input when we're talking offense. Most of us don't fully understand what we're watching on Sundays because we don't know the plays called, coverages planned, alignments and assignments missed, and all that. It's so hard to judge football players in real-time as an observer.
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But when players who are immersed in the schemes and playbooks are making their judgements? Yeah, those feel like fair assessments.
Slay has only faced Mayfield once in his career, an Eagles loss to the Browns in Cleveland last year, but Beckham Jr. unfortunately was out with an injury for that game. Mayfield went 12 of 22 for 204 yards, zero touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
Slay has faced Beckham Jr. twice in his career, both times with the Giants. In 2016 Beckham Jr. went for six catches, 64 yards, and a touchdown in a Giants win; in 2017 Beckham Jr. had four catches for 36 yards in a Lions win.
I can't wait to see where Beckham Jr. lands if he's indeed released, and whether he'll show he's still got that Pro Bowl-level ceiling we were all accustomed to.
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