Odell Beckham Jr. is getting closer to being game ready.
With Cleveland’s season opener on Sept. 8 against Tennessee quickly approaching, Beckham, who has been slowed by a hip injury, returned to team drills during practice on Monday for the first time in nearly three weeks.
Before Monday’s workout, the three-time Pro Bowler had not been on the field with quarterback Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry and the rest of the starting offense since Aug. 6.
“He looked good,” coach Freddie Kitchens said afterward. “It’s good to have him back out. We’ve been working on the side with him with other things. It’s just the natural progression, so it was good to have him back.”
Beckham had been taking part only in individual drills while dealing with the hip issue, which the Browns have insisted was nothing too serious. He made sharp cuts, ran at full speed and made several catches during 11 on 11 drills. He also did extra work on the side with Mayfield as they try to establish chemistry to make up for lost time.
Beckham didn’t play in any of Cleveland’s first three exhibition games, and the star won’t play Thursday night when the Browns conclude the preseason at home against Detroit.
Beckham has been in catch-up mode almost from March, when the Browns acquired him from the New York Giants in a blockbuster trade. He skipped most of Cleveland’s voluntary offseason workouts and the extra minicamp while he processed moving to a new team and city.
Kitchens believes Beckham and Mayfield are connecting, and there’s no need to force them to do more even though season will start in less than two weeks.
“They’ve been working through the whole camp as it is,” Kitchens said. “Just because he wasn’t in team drills doesn’t mean they weren’t working. It’s fairly easy, you learn where to line up, learn what to do, learn the depth and the area you’re supposed to be in, and you’ve got it just about figured out. I think he’s a smart guy and he’s coming along.”
Kitchens said the Browns will continue to bring Beckham along slowly.
“We don’t want to overwork him right now,” he said. “We haven’t started playing yet. We haven’t even gotten into game-planning and stuff like that. But they’ll definitely be on top of their game when we start game-planning and timing and stuff like that, rather than just useless things that doesn’t really matter.
“At the end of the day, it’s exactly what I said: it’s knowing where to line up, where to be, getting to your depth and then catching the ball. After that, you get the ball in his hands and see what he can do.”
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