The Cleveland Browns and Odell Beckham Jr. are bound together for a while, much as the talented receiver will be tied to the New York Giants. The Giants traded Beckham to Cleveland in 2019. The Browns hoped Beckham, along with his best friend Jarvis Landry, would elevate the team around Baker Mayfield to unprecedented levels of success.
Cleveland did have some success during Beckham’s employment with the team but it rarely was due to his play. In fact, a majority of their success came with him off the field due to tearing his ACL in the middle of the 2020 season.
The Browns went on to make the playoffs and knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening round. The hope was that Beckham’s return would take the offense from good to great after recovering in 2021. Instead, the relationship fell apart and the team released Beckham which freed him up to sign with the Los Angeles Rams.
It was during that recovery time between seasons that at least one other player had an idea that Beckham was not happy in Cleveland. Von Miller, speaking to Sports Illustrated, shared what the receiver told him while the two were rehabbing together:
Almost every day, they wondered: Wouldn’t it be wild if, one day, somehow, some way, they played for the same team?
Maybe in Ohio, Miller wondered, daydreaming out loud.
“Don’t come to Cleveland,” Miller says Beckham told him.
The story doesn’t share any more information about the conversation but, clearly, Miller was interested in joining Beckham in Ohio before the receiver shut that down.
Instead, Miller was later traded to Los Angeles and then was joined by Beckham after the Browns released him. The Rams are now in the NFC Championship Game while Cleveland is left wondering how it went so wrong. Based on what Miller said, it sounds like Beckham was done with the Browns before the Browns were done with him.
