Beckham draws cheers on first day
BEREA — If the first practice of Cleveland Browns training camp is any indication, it’s safe to believe the hype about the impact Odell Beckham Jr. should have on his new team.
Beckham stole the show Thursday as camp opened and wowed the win-starved fans in attendance with back-to-back highlight catches in the first 11-on-11 drill.
With quarterback Baker Mayfield throwing against the first-team defense, Beckham ran a go route as cornerback Terrance Mitchell covered him, leaped and caught a pass over his shoulder before running out of bounds. The next play, Beckham ran an out route, then bobbled the ball as Mitchell tried to knock it away a split-second before Beckham caught it on his knees along the sideline.
The crowd went wild after each play.
“I could feel the hunger and the wantto-win from these fans,” Beckham said after practice, “and that’s just something we just want to be able to showcase and give to them. I do love the love, and I just want to be able to spread that through this community, through this team, and build something special.”
When the Browns traded in March with the New York Giants to acquire Beckham, the change rocked his world. Even though Beckham knew he would be reuniting with friend and former LSU teammate Jarvis Landry, he had a lot to process.
“You don’t understand the impact it has when you’re building such a life in a place and then uproot and you’ve just got to go,” Beckham said. “But it’s life. Keep rolling with the punches.
“I am very excited to be here. I feel settled in my heart, in my mind, my body. I’m just settled into where I’m at, and I feel like I belong.”
The barking fans wearing orange and brown couldn’t have been more welcoming. Beckham gave “Nobody wants to be hated, for whatever reason. Every human wants to be loved. … When you feel that love, it makes you want to do more.” Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
them more to celebrate later when he separated from cornerback Denzel Ward’s coverage and caught a touchdown pass of about 20 yards from Mayfield in the back of the end zone during a red-zone period.
“(Beckham) should feel the love from the fans because they showed it to him,” coach Freddie Kitchens said. “The thing that separates Cleveland from a lot of places is the passion that they bring to it, to the game, to the practice, on social media.”
But does support from fans, teammates and coaches actually help Beckham perform better on the field?
“Nobody wants to be hated, for whatever reason,” Beckham said. “Every human wants to be loved. … When you feel that love, it makes you want to do more for the fans, to do more for your teammates, your brothers, just knowing everybody has your back.”
Beckham is a worldwide celebrity who’s the personification of flashy. He recently launched a Youtube channel to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at his life. He’s on the cover of GQ magazine’s August issue. Before practice Thursday, he released a hype video to his 13.4 million Instagram followers, unveiling scenes from his recent Los Angeles workouts with Mayfield, Landry and other Browns players.
Although it’s only one practice, the Browns seem to be getting the best out of Beckham.
“He’s just a special individual who can do things like that,” Mayfield said. “It’s a security blanket being able to throw it in places that not a lot of receivers could go get it, and he comes down with it with a guy draped all over him.”
Beckham said he expects to make every catch cleanly and gets upset when he bobbles a ball.
“For me, seeing (Landry) go up and catch the ball one hand, two hands, whatever it is, I’m automatically going to be inspired, I’m automatically going to want to do more. So, yeah, there is that energy,” Beckham said. “That’s just the one thing I always felt that I had was (an ability) to bring that energy, to inspire somebody else to do something, and somebody is going to inspire the next person. We’re all trying to uplift each other.”