Odell Beckham Jr. says his comeback is a 'day by day' process and would not commit entirely to making his 2021 debut Sunday, though it appears likely. (TheLandOnDemand)
After knee and ‘spiritual reconstruction,’ Odell Beckham Jr. appears ready for return
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Odell Beckham Jr. fell short of saying he definitely would make his return to the field Sunday against the Chicago Bears. But the flamboyant receiver felt good enough about it to hold his first press availability since attempting his comeback from ACL surgery.
Entertaining and introspective as ever, Beckham called his imminent return a “day by day” process, and concluded, “I’m focused. I’m locked in. Just here to play ball.”
Beckham said the timetable all along was to get on the field 11 months after the surgery, which was done on Nov. 10. That would leave him 2 ½ weeks ahead of schedule despite a false start the week of the season-opener in Kansas City.
“I started to progress faster and faster,” Beckham said. “I definitely was itching, wanting to go against [the Chiefs]. It just didn’t happen. I’m just following God’s plan. He put me in a good place to be here right now. It’s just a day by day process.”
Indeed, Beckham seems at peace. Not only with the state of his left knee that was injured while chasing back on an interception in Cincinnati on Oct. 25, but with a career interrupted by three major surgeries in the last four years.
Beckham said he underwent “spiritual reconstruction” during his knee rehab, which resulted in a more positive outlook.
“This is just my soul I needed to work on,” he said. “I found I’m just in a way better place. My energy and the way I approach a situation, the way I approach anything that goes on, I just have a positive outlook on. And it changes everything. I come out here and it was a gloomy day and I come out here and the sun starts shining. I have a different aura about me at the moment.”
There was a time earlier in his career when Beckham, 28, mused about retiring prematurely. He said that thought did not cross his mind.
“I wasn’t gonna give up,” he said. “I’m not the kind of fighter who got knocked out in their last fight and like I’m gonna hang it up. I got to come out fighting again.”
He called the surgeries – on an ankle in 2017, for a sports hernia in 2019, and to repair the ACL in 2020 – “devasting.”
“It’s just about your why. What do you [rehab] for?” he asked. “For me, for the kids out there who have that feeling of wanting to give up on something, that’s all I could think about. What message would I send them by giving up now?
“Because I haven’t reached the goals that I wanted to reach, the accomplishments. The things I set in sight are still not out of sight for me. So I just found a way to keep going, be resilient, and just try to find a way to get better every day.
“Mentally, it’s tough to stay in it when it had been year after year after year. Especially when you start out so fast and I had all the goals of Jerry Rice and all these things and you’re slowly crushed by injury. It’s just hard mentally and spiritually to stay strong throughout all of it.”
Beckham said he didn’t receive added motivation to come back because of the knee injury suffered by friend and teammate Jarvis Landry in the Houston game last week.
“No, it was just very unfortunate,” he said. “It’s like playing phone tag with your best friend. I went down in the season last year. We dreamed of being on the same team in the NFL. The week I feel like, all right, let’s look at it, he goes down. It didn’t speed anything up.
“He’s a guy who can’t be replaced. His energy, his presence on this team, as a leader, captain on this team, you can’t replace him. I just wish he gets back as fast as possible.”
Beckham said he isn’t worried about taking that first hit since the surgery, and doesn’t buy the rap that he and quarterback Baker Mayfield have lacked chemistry in their 23 games together.
“I feel like that was more a thing that was made by other people,” he said. “Second year in the offense, being comfortable, team finding out who exactly they are, and then it all coming together. Like I say, we’ll see how that is whenever the day is.”
Beckham has been a full participant in practice this week. With Landry out, the Browns have written him into the game plan, though coordinator Alex Van Pelt conceded the coaches have to “be smart” with his reps in his first game back.
That is, if he plays. There’s always the chance he could not feel right on Sunday.
“We’re obviously taking it up till game time,” Van Pelt said. “Hopefully, he can be able to make it this week. He’s looked good so far in practice. We’ll see how he feels later in the week. We’re hoping.”
