The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
OBJ says of 2020: ‘This is my time’
Odell Beckham Jr. trains like a Spartan warrior with modernday equipment and predicts his best season.
Odell Beckham Jr., training like a Spartan Warrior with modernday equipment, is predicting 2020 will be “one of my best seasons.”
The Browns’ 27-year-old wide receiver, in his second year in Cleveland after five with the Giants, underwent core muscle surgery Jan. 21.
Beckham on his YouTube channel posted a video of him rehabbing from the injury. Anyone wondering whether Beckham is taking his workout seriously without the Browns’ strength coaches watching should wonder no more.
“Right now, what I’m trying to do is hit the reset button,” Beckham said in the video posted May 4. “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.
“I would honestly say this is probably going to be one of my best seasons. Bigger, stronger, faster — this is my time.”
You can watch the video by simply going to youtube.com and typing “Odell Beckham Jr. Channel” in the search bar. Look for the one titled “OBJ talks about rehab post surgery.”
In one drill, Beckham bends at the waist while leaning over with his hips resting on a pad. One end of a stretch band is secured around the base of a stand holding the pad upright, with the other end of the band around the back of Beckham’s neck. He straightens, putting tension on the band so the resistance strengthens his surgically repaired abdominal muscles.
He raises his arms above his head, lifts a barbell stand and walks with his legs between the columns of the barbell stand in another drill.
Beckham never made excuses last season. He caught 74 passes for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns – not bad for most receivers, but not spectacular.
Beckham expects he will be spectacular every year. Last season, 25 NFL players had more receiving yards and 27 caught more passes.
“So last year I was training in June and July, and I was kind of just feeling stuff around the groin area, abs and stuff like that,” Beckham said. “My third week of training camp, I tear a little piece of my ab. 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.
“So pretty much, I was just (messed) up the whole year. I really didn’t try and say anything about it. Probably one of the worst
surgeries I’ve ever had. Recovery’s going well. Guess I’m really just trying to put my body back together. I’ve been playing for 23 years, so for me, I’m trying to put it all back together in seven months.”
Beckham caught 288 passes for 4,122 yards and 35 touchdowns from 201416 with the Giants. Those are the numbers former Browns general manager John Dorsey was looking for when he traded the Giants picks 17 and 95 in the 2019 draft plus safety Jabrill Peppers to acquire Beckham. OBJ made the Pro Bowl each of his first three years in the league.
Beckham had 176 catches for 2,389 yards and 13 touchdowns with no Pro Bowl appearances over the last three years.
“Odell is one of the guys I was fortunate enough to sit down with before all this stuff kind of went sideways, so we sat down and talked about a bunch of things,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said on 92.3 The Fan recently. “One of the things we talked about is how he’s going to factor in this offense, and I showed him a bunch of tape from the previous Vikings year (when Stefanski was the offensive coordinator in Minnesota). I showed him tape from his Giants years, and just my vision for what he’s going to be capable of doing in this offense.”
Beckham has not been the same since Aug. 21, 2017, when former Browns defensive back Briean
Boddy-Calhoun went low and hit Beckham’s left leg with a shoulder tackle in a preseason game at FirstEnergy Stadium.
No penalty was called, but Beckham suffered a sprained left ankle and missed the Giants’ season opener. He played in four games and then suffered a broken right ankle trying to compensate for the still-sore left ankle.
“Honestly, I had never been injured until I snapped my ankle,” Beckham said. “From then on, I had a bunch of compensation injuries that naturally occur over the years. “
So now Beckham is trying to “hit the reset button,” to use his words, on his body and his career just in case the NFL does play games in 2020.