Odell Beckham Jr. arrives at Owners Meetings, but no Browns meeting

On Mar 28, 2023

Odell Beckham Jr. arrived at the NFL Owners Meetings on Tuesday to meet with various teams, although the Browns aren't one of those teams.

PHOENIX — Odell Beckham Jr. showed up at the Arizona Biltmore Resort on Tuesday to meet with various NFL teams during the Owners Meetings. One of the first faces he ran into when he arrived was his former coach with the Browns, Kevin Stefanski

The free-agent wide receiver and the Browns coach shared a brief embrace as Beckham was arriving at the resort and Stefanski was preparing to depart. The moment was caught video by an NFL Network producer, who put it out on social media.

However, that embrace may be the extent of the contact between Beckham and the team he played with for two-plus seasons. After the recent acquisitions of receivers Elijah Moore and Marquise Goodwin, the Browns aren’t expected to meet with him while in Arizona.

Beckham Jr. shared a brief exchange with another former boss when he spent a few moments with Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead while the two were in the outdoor bar and pool area of the resort. After that, he also greeted several media members from both Los Angeles and Cleveland.

Beckham Jr.’s agent, Zeke Sandhu, when asked by Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot as they were walking back into the resort what they were doing at the meetings, he just answered, “We’re just here to enjoy the sun.”

The annual meetings, which began on Sunday, for all intents and purposes end Tuesday. Many of the league’s head coaches, executives and owners in attendance were departing the resort throughout the course of the day.

It was against that backdrop that Beckham, who hasn’t played since tearing his ACL in the Super Bowl two seasons ago, arrived looking for a team to call home for the upcoming season. That includes two of his former teams, the New York Giants and Rams, the latter with whom he won a Super Bowl after being released by the Browns in November, 2021.

Beckham Jr. held a workout in Arizona back on March 10 for prospective teams, one of which was the Browns. The Panthers, Giants, Patriots, Rams, Cardinals, 49ers, Bills, Chiefs, Vikings and Ravens were also in attendance.

The Browns’ interest at that time was described as doing “diligence” on a potential free-agent signing. However, in the time since that workout, they have addressed the wide receiver room by acquiring Moore in a trade with the New York Jets and signing the veteran free agent Goodwin.

Currently, the Browns have 14 receivers on their roster.

Beckham Jr. had 114 catches on 210 targets for 1,586 yards with seven touchdowns in 29 games with the Browns between the time he was acquired in a trade from the Giants in 2019 until he was released the first week of November, 2021. A torn ACL in 2020 shortened that season, then a feud with quarterback Baker Mayfield accelerated his departure from Cleveland.