Browns will indeed be better off without Odell…

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Last year, the Browns bristled at the notion that the absence of receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for the balance of the season would be good for the team. And then the team was far better without Beckham.

This year, instead of trading him in the offseason or at any point before the trade deadline, the Browns kept Beckham around, even though he no longer fit with the structure or strategy of the run-based offense. Anything they would have gotten would have been more than the nothing they’ll be getting now, and they possibly would have attracted plenty of suitors who were intoxicated by the promise of 0-0.

Inexplicably, the Browns kept Beckham around, even though he had been asking repeatedly to be traded. Through it all, they weren’t using him like they should have been. Whether it was the failure or inability to get the ball to him when he was open in the secondary or the absence of plays designed to get the ball in his hands (jet sweep, bubble screen, or just line him up in the backfield), he’d become an afterthought.

Thus, they’ll definitely be better off without him because they’ve been operating as if he isn’t even there. The only surprise is the failure to get a draft pick or a player in exchange for the balance of his contract.

While that may have been difficult before he showed that he’d recovered from last year’s ACL tear, the Browns had several weeks before the trade deadline to make a move, after he returned in Week Three. They didn’t.

Now, they’ll have to sit back and watch what he does with a new team. While they’d never say it, they undoubtedly will be hoping that he doesn’t do so much that the Browns look dumb for failing to use him or to get value for him.