In his season-ending press conference on Monday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said he’d exchanged text messages with Odell Beckham Jr. and was looking forward to having him on the team in 2021.
Though some have speculated the Browns’ offense was better off without Beckham, General Manager Andrew Berry rejected that notion on Wednesday.
“You always want to have someone that talented on the field,” Berry said, via video from Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “He’s a dynamic weapon and we like having dynamic weapons on the field.”
Though the Browns’ offense did improve after Beckham tore his ACL midseason, Berry feels that was more a product of players and coaches getting better acclimated to one another. Like all of the new 2020 coaching staffs, Cleveland did not have the benefit of an in-person offseason program to install offensive and defensive systems.
“I think that’s really independent of Odell,” Berry said. “I’ve said it multiple times, Odell’s a good football player. He acclimated nicely with our program, with Kevin, with his teammates. Quite honestly, I just want as many good football players on the roster as possible.”
In seven 2020 games, Beckham caught 23 passes for 319 yards and with three touchdowns. He also had 72 yards rushing and a rushing touchdown.