Shocking report: Browns have no plans to trade OBJ!

Cleveland Browns fans may want to sit down for this one, because it is a shocker.

The Browns have no plans to trade wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

That is according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who cites an unnamed source in reporting that the Browns are content with holding onto their No. 1 wide receiver:

According to Schefter, a source “close to the situation” insists that the Browns have not been planning, nor have they been discussing, sending Beckham out of town:

“It’s totally not true. No idea where anyone would have gotten that.”

We’ll give everyone a moment to recover from that bit of earth-shaking news.

The speculation that the Browns would move on from Beckham has been around almost since they acquired him a trade from the New York Giants during the 2019 offseason. That continued throughout a rough first season with the Browns that saw Beckham finished with 74 receptions for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns.

Those are pedestrian numbers for a player like Beckham, certainly, but take on a different light when you factor in that he was playing the entire season with a core muscle injury that required surgery in the offseason, and the general dysfunction of the offense.

Things got off to a rocky start this season for Beckham - and the entire Browns offense - during a Week 1 loss to the Baltimore Ravens that saw Beckham finish with just three receptions for 22 yards on 10 targets.

That changed on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, however, as Beckham had four receptions for 74 yards and a crowd-pleasing 43-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter:

This type of speculation is part of the Beckham package that the Browns are going to continually have to deal with as long as he remains on the team. Reports come out about dysfunction between Beckham and quarterback Baker Mayfield, people draw lines in the sand about choosing one or the other, and that turns into “the Browns must do something!”

It is all just noise, however, and as long as Beckham can have more games like the one against the Bengals and less like the one against the Ravens, the Browns can easily just shut out all that outside noise.