DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Odell Beckham says he’ll be at mandatory minicamp

Odell Beckham says he’ll be at mandatory minicamp

Posted by Mike Florio on May 31, 2019, 11:32 PM EDT
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New Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has stayed away from most of the voluntary portion of the team’s offseason program. He’ll be there for the mandatory minicamp that begins on Monday.

Via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Beckham made his intention clear in a social-media post that responded to a fan who told Beckham to “cut out the crap and get to camp.’’

“I’ll be there on the 3rd, u coming?” Beckham replied.

Beckham has attended only two days of his new team’s offseason program. He was there on the first day of Phase One, and also on the first day of Phase Three — Organized Team Activities. He chose not to show up for the extra voluntary minicamp afforded to each team with a new head coach.

It’s unclear why Beckham has been so scarce. After he was abruptly traded to the Browns, reports emerged suggesting that he wants an adjustment to his contract. It’s possible that he stayed away to send a message that he indeed would like the Browns to sweeten the deal that he signed with the Giants last August.

He’s got every right to do that; it’s what he did two years ago, once Beckham became eligible for a new contract with the Giants and the Giants dragged their feet.

Still, there’s no reason to believe Beckham will refrain from showing up for the mandatory minicamp or training camp, regardless of his reason for skipping most of the voluntary workouts.

What a great guy ... sure am glad he’s “ready” ...

Not showing up was a SELFISH/DIVA move that in the grand scheme of things will amount to a BIG OLD NOTHING ...

The fact it won’t matter in the long run does NOT CHANGE THE FACT it was a SELFISH/DIVA move ...

From ALL accounts he is an OUTSTANDING and EXEMPLARY TEAMMATE ... in this case he was NOT A GOOD TEAMMATE ...

He was well within his rights to not show up ... so in that regard he did NOTHING WRONG ... it don’t change the fact he should have been here THIS YEAR ...

Its his first year on a new team ... if he was NOT A DIVA he would have been here ...

Best part is ... all u guys that like me realize its no big deal but can’t admit it was a selfish/diva move will be the first ones saying atheletes get to many breaks and there mollycoddled ... a wee bit ironic don’t u think ... *L* ...

U know it is possible for something not to matter even a little bit and still be a dick move .. this was one of them ... ya’all that can’t admit it was a diva move are behaving like were saying this can’t be overcome and will be a problem when at least I AM saying and know its no biggie ...

Next week this becomes a HUGE NOTHING BURGER and is the smallest thing in that rear view mirror Freddie don’t like to use ... *L* ..

I for one can’t wait for next week ...

His mind and body must be right.

Just in time.

I would have liked him to be there, but in the end I don't care.

Does everybody understand what voluntary means?

I don't think the Cleveland media does.

My goodness are they a terrible bunch. I mean incompetent is a word that comes to mind.

While I certainly agree about the "chemistry" thing among players starting at OTAs, this year there's just as important chemistry being developed in the coaching staff. Just about every coaching position has changed from last year. On top of that, the HC is a first-time HC!


Yeah, I would rather OBJ had been through the OTAs, but at least he's coming in after the coaching staff has had a chance to "practice" being a team. Ha...am I looking too hard for a silver lining in this cloud?

Since this is a new offense for the team, and a new team and offense for OBJ, I would prefer that he would be here ..... but I think that him coming in for mini-camp, and working with Baker, Jarvis, and others later this summer, will help get him ready.

Ideally, though, I wish all of our players, including OBJ, were here for all team activities.

From what I have heard, the local media had largely stopped asking about Beckham's absence from OTAs. It was a national media member who asked Freddie about him the other day, and Freddie used the opportunity to express his feelings about it. He was asked "What has he (Beckham) missed?" and Freddie answered "A lot. The offense.". He later made what I consider to be a veiled reference to Beckham when he was asked about McCoy visiting other teams. He said they were glad McCoy was visiting other teams because it would mean that if he came here, he would be "all in".

So, IMO, if people have a problem with this being talked about, their problem is with the coach, not the local media. Tony Grossi gets a lot of heat here and elsewhere for voicing his opinions, but he is employed by ESPN-Cleveland as an analyst, not a reporter. They pay him for his opinions. Mary Kay Cabot, whatever you may think of her, works her ass off to try to bring info to print and to the airwaves. Others like Nate Ulrich and Scott Petrak also do a really solid job.

Odell Beckham, success in America and the right to do it your own way



CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The phrase “He broke all the rules” takes on either a negative or positive connotation based entirely on the status and success of the person to which it applies.

If you’ve failed, it’s because you were too stubborn or too stupid to follow them. If you’ve succeeded, it’s because you were too creative and too original to adhere to them. Success against the grain is a virtue in American life. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Sean “Diddy" Combs all dropped out of college before earning their riches, and their iconoclasm is hailed by every college freshman sick of going to class.

The act of dropping out isn’t the point. It’s that success is its own justification, and it can be applied to every path. In most walks of high-profile American life, success also justifies at least some level of jerkness in business, in entertainment, in politics, in music, in writing. Ask the most successful journalists how they take to being edited. Ask how many columnists have screamed into the phone if someone had the temerity to suggest a word change.

In Hollywood, what does every successful director demand and receive at the peak of his or her powers? Final cut. Once they’ve succeeded, once they’ve proven their skills and made their bosses money, they want power. And they get it. Musicians crave creative control. Artists want to be free, unencumbered by corporate sensibilities.

And bosses? Bosses in America are villains, most often characterized as overbearing and uninformed, asking too much and respecting the worker too little. Who really knows best? The person at the top calling the shots, or the people on the ground, doing the work? The worker. Watch a TV show or movie. Let me know when the boss is the hero.

This is how we view things. No one roots for “the man.” No one roots for the company. We cherish the individual, believe in ingenuity, admire entrepreneurship and tolerate impoliteness while striving for greatness. Much of the time, when success is reached, and especially when success is repeated, we forgive everything else.

So ... why was Browns receiver Odell Beckham supposed to come to voluntary OTAs?

I wrote at the start of OTAs that everyone should relax about Beckham’s attendance. But he only made one of the sessions, and so the story has lingered. It’s not only that obsessing over Beckham’s absence from OTAs is uptight. It goes against how we view success at the highest level.

Team sports are a tricky business, supposedly cohesive groups made of elite individuals. Some of those elite individuals are all about the team concept. Wonderful. But mandating that every special talent subscribes to rules put forth by a boss isn’t just foolhardy, it might be contrary to winning.

On a 53-man roster, you need a few guys who are different. I remember former Indians GM Mark Shapiro saying of Jim Thome that it made your team better when your best player was also your best person. That can work. It can also make your team better when one of your best players is the guy no one can figure out. Let Baker Mayfield lead the Browns. Let Beckham inspire the locker room through his refusal to conform.

Because I guarantee you this ... there are young Browns who will look at Beckham and say, “I want to be that.” And what is that? Someone so talented, so accomplished, someone who holds himself to such a high standard and lives up to it, that he can break the rules.

I’m gonna bust my tail to be as good as Odell ... so I can miss OTAs one day, too.

This isn’t a lesson you’ll read in any coaching manual, but why is anyone other than a coach reading a coaching manual? Just observe American society. Vice wrote a story about Kanye West three years ago that includes a cuss word in the headline, but the gist was whether he was a genius or a jerk. In it, the story explained the “Advanced Genius Theory," which doesn’t actually apply all that well here, but makes a point.

Sometimes, stars are so good, and have succeeded for so long, if we now think something is wrong with them, it’s not about them. It’s that we’ve lost the ability to understand them. West has proven his musical genius. If a football receiver can be a genius about his profession, Beckham may be one.

If you’re still reading, and you’re hard-working and kind-hearted, you may have already started your nasty email. Maybe you don’t want to excuse Beckham. Maybe you believe he’s letting down his teammates. So maybe don’t forgive his absence. But understand it, and realize it won’t ruin the Browns.

Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer publicly and proudly explained how he treated the best players in his program differently. Hard work and high achievement were used to divide players into status levels, and while some criticized Meyer for that, he viewed it as a fundamental part of his success.

The best earn different treatment.

I heard a major league manager decades ago explain his rule about forbidding players from bringing golf clubs on road trips. When asked what he’d do if his team acquired one of the golf-happy Atlanta Braves aces -- Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine -- he said he’d let them golf every day they weren’t pitching if they wanted to. Because they knew how to do their jobs.

The best earn different treatment.

If it sounds like I’m trying to spin Beckham’s absence into a plus, I’m not (except that some teams suffered key injuries in OTAs, and guys who aren’t there aren’t likely to get hurt). But it’s not a minus. It’s just different, and different is good. Beckham missing OTAs is certainly not a sign that he’s afraid to work. It’s a sign that he doesn’t think it’s a necessary part of his preparation. (He was in Monaco on Sunday for a Grand Prix. I’d take that over an OTA.)

“Work Smarter, Not Harder” is the business axiom. It’s not “Work Harder Because Everyone Else Thinks You Should Work Harder Because Voluntary Isn’t Really Voluntary."

Beckham got famous four years ago by making a one-handed catch off a bad throw. That specific play was not something he could have worked on with his QB in OTAs back in 2015. But you know what he did work on by himself? One-handed catches.

So when Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said Thursday that Beckham had missed a lot, I think he did sound ticked. I’m not disputing that Kitchens might be peeved. Remember those coaching manuals? It’s part of the job. I’m saying it doesn’t matter that much, because pleasing your boss isn’t the goal.

Succeeding is. And that’s not the same thing. Success can please your boss. But pleasing your boss doesn’t mean you’ll succeed.

Beckham has been arguably the best receiver in the NFL for five seasons. Is he different? Heck yeah. Hard to handle? Of course. A little selfish maybe? No doubt. Does he disregard norms, buck convention, invite criticism, inflame passions and create drama?

Absolutely. Because he’s an American success story.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2019/06...lesmerises.html

This debate has been so stupid, that I wish everyone just talked about Hue and Sashi instead. Seriously this thing was as stupid as can be.

Everyone is anxious and desperate for a winner and ANYTHING remotely negative take on a much more serious than it may be tone. This fanbase is apprehensive that things might fall apart. We've come to expect that what could go wrong will. I don't blame them much...

I disagree with both paragraphs.

As for Grossi, I have defended him in certain capacities on here before. I actually enjoy him on the radio and think he does a good, objective job in that capacity. As a writer he taps into his alter ego of Johnny Fanatic and becomes the opposite of objective. He's actually hard to read.

As for MKC, perhaps she does work hard. I don't see the end result of that hard work. That's actually a worse indictment than someone who doesn't work hard. It just means they aren't very good. And listen very carefully to MKC during press conferences...she has two objectives...one, make everything about the QB, even if she's talking to the punter...and two, create as much controversy as possible. It's not that hard to pick up on.

Why not just simplify this silliness and make all training camp activities MANDATORY?

....

Cause talking about Sashi and Hue witch is ANCIENT HISTORY at this point isn’t stupid and is always chalk full of new info and interesting discussion ... .... this is senseless also but at least its current and has an expiration date ... based off how long the Couch/Holcomb debates lasted, Sashi/Hue’s expiration date isn’t even in the foreseeable future .... *LOL* ...

Sashi scheduled for anymore of the analytics podcasts ... ...

I have a lower opinion of Cabot than you expressed. Grossi tries. Just feel some Cleveland coverage has too much artificial drama and goes looking for negativity. We have some great stories that never get covered because folks want to pick at some problems. Sure beats doing a solid job.

OBJ is a seasoned Pro Bowl player with his own trainers and work out method.

Baker is just past his his rookie year with much to learn. Plus, he is the QB.

Apples and Oranges.

Yes

I can't believe anyone is even talking about him not going to early voluntary practices.

Exactly.

I didn’t think we were handing out cookies

Brothers, you couldn’t build a wall between Jarvis and Odell if you tried, good luck.

The way I look at it as long as OBJ is here when he is suppose to be and works there is no issue. From his history there is no reason to think otherwise. He is a big asset to our Browns and will be a big reason we will become winners.

j/c

At first I looked at this as "no huge deal but to put his best foot forward, he should be here. New coaches, new team, new system to learn".

But then PPE brought it to may attention he and we may be best served this early in the process if OBJ were working with specialized trainers. People who know how best to work with putting OBJ in the best possible shape imaginable going into mandatory camp and the off season program.

There's certainly something to be said for both sides of the coin here.

The only prima donna in that story is the fan who thinks he gets to tell Odell what to do. THAT is ego run amok.

j/c:

Is Duke Johnson acting like a diva? Why aren't Callaway and Njoku being questioned? What the hell have they accomplished.

OBJ is not a cookie-cutter player. I thought people admired that? I thought they liked guys who march to the beat of a different drummer?

Same old BS! Actually, I think OBJ training w/his own personal trainer is more beneficial than attending "voluntary" OTAs.

Let me supply an analogy. I charge $120 an hour to tutor students one-on-one. I give discounts to families who can not afford that price, but I ask them to not tell anyone else. The point is that I never made anywhere close to earning $120 per hour when I was working in the classroom.

One-on-one instruction trumps group instruction every day of the week when things are "voluntary."

This debate IS stupid, and no I wouldn't care if Baker skipped them. I actually have a hunch, as early as next year Baker will start skipping OTAs.

j/c

not surprising what has transpired thus far; he'll be here when he's paid

I assume it wasn't intentional, but the word "paid" might be a bit misleading for some folks, given that OBJ is actually "paying" someone to train with. I don't think his absence from OTAs involves money.

To many, voluntary means unpaid. He is not punished financially for missing OTAs as he could be missing mandatory camp. Perhaps a way to make sure sure someone came in for OTAs would be to put a "bonus" into the player contract, noting that OTAs are voluntary, but they would earn an attendance bonus if they came in for them. That may, however, be a violation of the Player's Union contract ...

Same for some fans...

I think I read that Tom Brady does not got to OTAs. There just may be a certain level of competence where it really doesn't matter.

I wonder how persona non grossi and the human iud (mkc) are going to gas light the fans today now that OBJ will be at practice.