CLEVELAND — Freddie Kitchens is in an awkward spot.
Can’t really die on the hill of calling out Odell Beckham or anyone else for not being in Berea with his teammates since attendance is voluntary.
Can’t make it sound like being here isn’t greatly preferred either, especially for a marquee star new to the program.
“I have never disputed the fact that it is not important for him to be here, but it is also important for him to be mentally ready to be here,’’ Kitchens told the media this week. “I’m not giving him an out by any stretch of imagination, and nobody here knows the conversations that Odell and I have. I’m just saying it is better for him to be here when he can present his best self – emotionally, physically, everything.’’
Well, um, really?
It’s very likely that none of this will affect the Browns 2019 season. But Beckham’s “best self?” Why is that so elusive?
Sounds exactly like giving him an out, not to mention very un-Kitchens-like.
Beckham has already talked about how excited he is to be in Cleveland with Jarvis Landry and Baker Mayfield. He has suggested the Hall of Fame could well be in Mayfield's future. He says the Browns could become the new Patriots, amassing a collection of Super Bowl trophies over the next five years.
Not mentally ready?
To sound any more mentally on board he’d have to have shown up at the Met Gala in an elf costume instead of a kilt.
- Kitchens says nobody knows the conversations he’s had with Beckham. And that’s true.
Kitchens doesn’t seem to shy from telling players something they might not want to hear.
He did that with Mayfield at halftime once last season.
There’s no reason to say he won’t do the same with veterans when he thinks it’s important and necessary to do so.
Yet.
- You can only hope Kitchens and Beckham have talked about more pressing matters than Colin Cowherd, whose recent "Family Feud" style list of Beckham’s career achievements drew Beckham’s ire.
Also, we can probably rule something else out of the Beckham-Kitchens conversation:
Beckham’s Top 10 favorite things about OTAs.
- Good organizations find talent in the NBA draft even when the top pick doesn’t fall in their lap. So we’ll find out how good the Cavs are as an organization that improved itself with the hiring of John Beilein as head coach.
Acting as if the Cavs suffered a disaster by not landing Zion Williamson is letting them off the hook.
How can the Cavs be expected to find a great player picking outside the Top Three?
Hold that thought at least until former No. 15 overall picks Giannis Antetokounkpo and Kawhi Leonard are finished dueling in the Eastern Conference Finals.
- Anthony Bennett only went 14 spots higher than Giannis in 2013.
The Hollywood equivalent would’ve been Carrot Top cast in the Godfather instead of Brando.
- Leonard was drafted in the same year the Cavs took Kyrie Irving No. 1 and Tristan Thompson No. 4. He went five spots after Milwaukee chose Jimmer Fredette.
Jimmer Fredette.
- With Fredette off the board, the Warriors had to settle for Klay Thompson.
Two years after watching Minnesota take Johnny Flynn at No. 6 overall and having to settle for Steph Curry at No. 7.
And somehow the Warriors prospered.
- Comparisons are difficult. This may not be as deep a draft as any of those. But picking No. 5 isn’t exactly like waiting in an alley outside a restaurant for table scraps.
- Washington cornerback Josh Norman was the latest to take a shot a Giants GM Dave Gettleman, who held the same title in Carolina when Norman played there.
The Redskins happily drafted former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins after Gettleman drafted Duke QB Daniel Jones.
And one day after former Giants defensive back Landon Collins said he thought Washington stole the best QB in the draft, Norman said this on The Rich Eisen Show:
"I think we need to put (Gettleman) on salary. I think we need to put on salary. I mean, they need to protect Dave Gettleman at all costs up in New York, for sure. All costs, because he's winning for us, geez Louise.”
Good thing. The Redskins don’t win nearly enough by themselves.
- Haskins vows to “prepare like I’m the starter.”
I would point out that no quarterback ever says he prepares like he’s the backup, except that backup was the talent ceiling for so many Browns quarterbacks since 1999.
The others were preparing to be No. 3.
And for the late-December start against Pittsburgh that went with it.
- Not even a month after the NFL draft, Jets GM Mike Maccagnan has left the building.
Seems one of the issues was that Maccagnan and new head coach Adam Gase were at crosshairs on the acquisition of free agent running back Le’Veon Bell and the sizable salary he commands.
OK. So long as it was nothing major.
- Bell sat out last year in Pittsburgh when his coach wanted him.
Now he’ll play for a coach who doesn’t.
Meanwhile he passed up approximately $15 million.
If you have a choice between taking career advice from Le’Veon Bell or a You Said It contributor, still pick Bell.
Also, you’re in trouble.
- I don’t want to say Gase and Bell will have work to do in repairing their relationship but right now Daenerys Targaryen and the King’s Landing fire department have a better understanding.
- Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made a cameo as a King’s Landing guard in Sunday’s penultimate episode of Game of Thrones.
It was a slight departure from what Rodgers knows best -- running from a dragon this time instead of Khalil Mack.
- The Miami Dolphins have a new slogan: TNT (Takes No Talent.)
The idea being it takes no special talent to show up on time, be dedicated to your craft, be a great teammate, do all the little things that teams must stress when in the CLT stage of roster development: Clearly Lacking Talent.
- Summing up all the interviews at all the NFL offseason training media availability:
Every player thinks there’s a lot of talent on the roster, the sky’s the limit and every teammate getting a second chance has already proven he deserves it because it’s obvious he’s a “good guy who just made a mistake.”
