Cleveland Browns star Odell Beckham Jr. defended Baker Mayfield, saying the criticism against the quarterback was unfair as the team sits with two wins heading into another pivotal week.
Mayfield has not lived up to the hype that had been surrounding him coming into his second season. He has thrown six touchdown passes and leads the league with 12 interceptions. However, Beckham told reporters Thursday the team’s struggles were more than just Mayfield’s play.
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“You can’t sit here and say it’s all on him. You have to take a look at everything going on around him,” Beckham said, according to ESPN. “Obviously, he has to play better. I have to play better. … We all need to do better. Can’t sit back and be like, ‘It’s Baker’s fault.’ I feel like that’s the easiest thing for us to do. I’ve been in situations where one person is getting the blame, and the rest of the people are quiet to kind of stay out of the fire.”
FILE – In this Aug. 8, 2019, file photo, Cleveland Browns’ Baker Mayfield, left, smiles as he talks with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Washington Redskins in Cleveland. Beckham believes the Browns offense will come around. (AP Photo/David Richard, File)
Beckham added: “I’m going to jump in the fire with him. I’ll be the first one. Some of these losses are on me. I need to be in the right place at the right time. I’m going to do better. And that’s what I plan to do for the rest of the season.”
Mayfield caught heat earlier in the week after a back-and-forth he had with a Browns reporter during media availability. He abruptly left the scrum after the interaction. Beckham said he talked with Mayfield about the ordeal.
“Nobody likes to feel like you’re being poked at or prodded at, especially not a guy like that,” he said. “I’ve been through that journey already, I’ve been through this fire. That’s a part of me that’s able to help him in a way. This is a kid who cares about football, cares about winning. Whatever people make him out to be just because of his personality — if we were winning and he was still doing it, we’d all be here laughing. Because we’re losing, we want to kind of poke at him a little.”
Beckham said he would be the first to defend him and will always have his back.
FILE – In this Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, file photo, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) takes a handoff from quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)
Cleveland has started 2-5 through the first half of the season. And while Beckham has been a good teammate, he understood that there was a learning curve when dealing with his new quarterback.
“That comes from experience, it comes from playing in games together,” he said when addressing their chemistry, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. “Live bullets are different than when we’re in practice and you don’t have to worry about this or that. It’s tough to compare.”
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He added: “The only way to get it is game reps. So if there ever was any frustration, it’s because I know that. I’m a little older, I’m been doing this, I know that when you get it in games it has more confidence from in-game. You can go through the whole week of practice and catch 30 balls, and then get to the game, and you don’t have the same thing that’s going on.”
Beckham has 34 receptions for 488 yards and one touchdown this season.
