WR Odell Beckham Jr. (9.24.20)

WR Odell Beckham Jr.:

On getting involved earlier in the game last week and if he and QB Baker Mayfield can build off of that momentum:

“Just keep continuing to grow and take it a day at a time. Always just trying to make forward progress. The same with everything else in life. Right now, we are just focused on Washington and trying to get the W.”

On if the Kentucky grand jury’s announcement yesterday in the Breonna Taylor case will ‘strengthen his resolve to do more in the fight’:

“I do not know if strengthen is the right word. I am always going to continue to… For me, even at a young age, I always knew the difference between right and wrong and good and bad. I think the reason I am so closely related to kids is because they are naive and blind to what is really going on in this world. For me at such a young age, I just was always curious why things were like this and why things were like that. I think it is just getting tougher. It is disheartening. It is all of those things when you just want justice and it does not seem like that is going to happen. I think Chris Webber was on TNT and I was watching one of the games where they did not play the playoff game, and he said something that just stuck with me. It was like, ‘The trauma actually comes from the feeling of defeated or for me being like, yeah, it is expected to happen or that was expected.’ I think that is the hardest thing to deal with is not to be accepting of that but to have to accept that these type of things will happen. It is an everyday process. It is truly sad. It really is. I do not have the right words for it. I just pray that this world gets better – it is just plain and simple. It could just be such a beautiful place, and it is not.”

On if the Browns may meet as a team prior to Sunday’s game and may potentially do something on Sunday to honor Taylor:

“I do not know. I feel like there is definitely a call there. Something that we have not gotten to talk about as a team yet, but discuss with the team and figure out a plan of action going forward.”

On if there is a sense of frustration with continued incidents related to social injustice as the team tries to identify solutions:

“I think you try and channel that frustration into – the word is not ‘positive’ but finding a way that for more positive things to happen to see change to really seek that and just stay on course. The NBA is doing a great job and the NFL is doing a great job, but it is not for the publicity. You really want to see change. It is not for the likes and attention and all of those things or to feel as if you are doing your part. It is something genuine in your heart to want to see change. I think that is the biggest thing is really just finding ways to continue to keep chipping away at it. It is not something that is going to change overnight. It is not going to change in two days. It is not going to change in a year. It is something that you have to keep chipping away at, and I think that everybody plays a role in it.”

On the feedback he has received since saying in an interview that he has not voted in the past but that his message now is to personally vote encouraging others to vote who may not have done so previously:

“I feel like not like trying to pat myself on the back because when it comes to me, it could have been taken either way. I could have been said I was ignorant or any of these things. To me, it felt brave to be able to admit to myself, the world and everybody that that was my mentality and that was how I processed things or how I felt or what I had learned just that my vote would not really matter. Whether it was lazy or whether it was an excuse just for me not voting, I think coming out and saying that, I kind of take on more heat than someone else, and it allows someone else who is in that same situation to understand that it is OK and you have an opportunity to correct your wrongs or your mistakes going into the future. Your voice can actually now be heard, and there is no better time than the present for your voice to be heard. My message is going to continue to be vote. I actually just texted my financial advisor yesterday to make sure that everything is in place to where it is all set up and I am not sitting here promoting and talking about all these things and then it gets down to it and I actually miss the opportunity to vote again. I am just taking all the proper steps and actions to make sure that I can. For me, I feel like early on in this, I did not speak out as much because I did not have as much information on it so I do not want to just be speaking out and not be informed of what I am speaking on. I am just trying to keep acquiring information and knowledge and be able to find the best direction moving forward.”

On if he knew his 43-yard touchdown catch was going to happen when called:

“Yeah, this is literally and this is the play, the catch or whatever and sometimes when those plays are called, you just know, like, ‘Alright, here is your opportunity.’ Those moments are exciting. It has gotten to the point where they are not so nerve-wracking but they are just exciting. Like here is your chance and here is your opportunity, and we hit it. Rolling out left, throwing it on the run on the money, it could not have been a better time, and it was set up a lot by what (Head) Coach (Kevin Stefanski) did early on in the game just to be able to get in that situation. It was definitely good to hit it. Like I said, we are just trying to find ways day by day to keep continuing to make progress.”

On if he could not believe that pass inference was not called on the play where the defender had his jersey:

“I told him on the field, I was like, ‘Man, I have made mistakes in my career, but we have to move past that.’ I am just here to play football, too. I think a younger me would have been more upset, and now just realizing, it is like life; you just kind of roll with the punches. You missed a call, and whether it was or it was not pass interference, it was not called so I can’t harp on it or anything like that. Right now, my mentality is to keep playing and know that those calls probably will not get called and just to fight through that.”

On how Browns playmakers are reconciling with not necessarily having as many regular opportunities to make plays to help win games due to the number of offensive weapons on the team:

“For me, one of my biggest growths has come in acceptance in a sense and for me knowing it is probably not going to be that kind of season. Like I always say, my goal is always going to be my goal, and I do not feel like I am ever going to fall short of it. Like I said, learning and acceptance so you set new goals. Watching (Michael) Jordan’s documentary having a game within a game, working on a release during a run game or working something else, a new goal aside from winning always. (RB) Nick Chubb needs to be the No. 1 rusher in the league or (RB) Kareem (Hunt), too, as well. You have two legitimate No. 1 backs in the backfield, and our team is very, very, very good at running the football so you have to play to your strengths. Then I think you learn where you fit in and where you are able to make your plays and how you can help the team. I tell Chubb every day, ‘I owe you. I owe you. I owe you.’ I want that big block that springs him free just to see him running down the field, even though he is not going to give me any love after it and he is not going to have much emotion about it. Just to see him running free and down the sideline is going to be a great feeling. I think a lot of my growth came in acceptance, acceptance of life and acceptance of things and just knowing that is what it is going to be and finding a way to create that block that springs him or whatever it is to help us win.”

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