In the eyes of Odell Beckham, optimism reigns as the Kevin Stefanski era begins in Cleveland.
With him and talented teammate and close friend Jarvis Landry leading the Browns receiving corps, Beckham has seen what the Vikings' receiving tandem of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen did with Stefanski navigating the offense and finds promise in what the future may bring.
"With the new coach coming in, just seeing what he did with the Minnesota Vikings for a long time with Thielen and Diggs," Beckham recently said, via Complex.com's Zach Frydenlund. "These are people who I've watched closely on their film, and just seeing the things that he did and meeting him and seeing where his mind's at for Jarvis and myself of how this will all work out, I have a good feeling about it, you know?"
While Landry had another Pro Bowl campaign in 2019 with 83 receptions, 1,174 yards and six touchdowns, Beckham's much-publicized productivity was among the lowest it had been in his sterling six-season career during a full season. He had 74 grabs, 1,035 yards and four touchdowns. A good season, but not the excellence OBJ has become accustomed to produce.
Beckham's planning on that changing with Stefanski as he and Landry look to replicate -- or perhaps better -- the production of the Diggs-Thielen combo.
"I think that's the plan," Beckham said of matching the Thielen-Diggs role, "and I'm hoping that that's the game plan."
Stefanski will be Beckham's fourth coach in as many seasons.
Beckham, who's surpassed 1,000 yards in five of his six seasons with an injury-shortened 2017 as the only outlier, has become accustomed to the everchanging world that is the NFL.
"It's going on Year 7 for me now, but this business teaches you that anybody's replaceable and there's always going to be new coaches coming in and new staff, unless you're in one of those places where it just happens to not be like that," Beckham said. "But where I've been at, unfortunately I've been on some teams, not-so-good teams, so we've kind of reestablished it."
Despite equal parts promise and hype, the 2019 Browns ended up as one of those not-so-good teams and coach Freddie Kitchens was dismissed on the final day of the regular season.
It's more change for OBJ, but, according to him, it won't change his outlook.
"I'm always optimistic and looking on the brighter side of things," he said. "And I'm hoping that it's a tremendous season for us. We were so close last year, but yet so far away, and it shows you how being so close can land you from 10-6 to 6-10, you know? It's really a game of inches. So it's just little things we need to correct. I'm excited about the opportunity, excited to work on it."
