Odell Beckham is headed to Cleveland, and as with Antonio Brown, it surprisingly didn’t take that much to get him.
The Browns gave New York the 17th pick of the first round, plus a late third-round pick and safety Jabrill Peppers. The third-round pick is No. 95 overall. Peppers was a first-round pick in 2017, but the Browns were never really able to get him dialed into being a top player.
The Browns will need to alter Beckham’s contract at some point. For now, he’s guaranteed $16.75 million for the 2019 season.
Between Brown and Beckham, $37 million will count against the salary caps of the two teams where they’re not even playing. Brown will count $21 million on Pittsburgh’s books this year, while Beckham sits at $16 million on the Giants’ ledger.
With this trade, I’m certain Baker Mayfield will be a top-10 quarterback on my board. If not for a massive glut of other quality quarterbacks, he’d be in my top 5.
The Browns have a really nice cast of pass catchers now. Beckham and Jarvis Landry (who were teammates at LSU) are a great one-two punch. Antonio Callaway had a very good rookie year. David Njoku can chip in some big plays from tight end. Breshad Perriman made some downfield catches last year and has agreed to re-sign (but he reportedly now would like to get out of the deal). Duke Johnson is one of the league’s better third-down backs (if they choose to keep him around).
Mayfield played very well as a rookie, and he played his best ball after the Browns switched offensive coordinators at midseason. After Freddie Kitchens took over, sacks went way down, the offense started humming, and Mayfield broke Peyton Manning’s rookie record for touchdown passes.
In the second half of the season, Mayfield averaged 282 passing yards per game, with 19 TDs in those eight games. For fantasy purposes, that works out to 24.1 points per game (fantasy scoring). That would have made him 9th-best quarterback in the league last year.
Of the eight guys who finished ahead of Mayfield last year, half of them have worrying flaws. Ben Roethlisberger could head south in a hurry after losing Antonio Brown. Jared Goff will play behind an offensive line that’s lost two starters. Jameis Winston is capable of playing his way onto the bench. Cam Newton needs to get his should back in shape.
| QUARTERBACKS, POINTS PER START | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Pass | Run | TDP | TDR | Points |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 16 | 319 | 17 | 3.13 | .13 | 31.0 |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 16 | 321 | 6 | 2.13 | .19 | 26.8 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 16 | 308 | 8 | 2.19 | .25 | 26.7 |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 9 | 294 | 29 | 1.78 | .11 | 25.4 |
| Andrew Luck, Ind. | 16 | 287 | 9 | 2.44 | .00 | 25.3 |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 16 | 260 | 34 | 1.63 | .31 | 24.8 |
| Cam Newton, Car. | 14 | 243 | 35 | 1.71 | .29 | 24.5 |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 16 | 293 | 7 | 2.00 | .13 | 24.5 |
| Baker Mayfield (Kitchens) | 8 | 282 | 5 | 2.38 | .00 | 24.1 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 15 | 266 | 1 | 2.13 | .27 | 23.7 |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 14 | 230 | 30 | 1.71 | .21 | 23.2 |
| Baker Mayfield (total) | 13 | 271 | 10 | 2.08 | .00 | 23.0 |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 16 | 278 | 17 | 1.56 | .13 | 22.9 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 11 | 182 | 55 | .91 | .73 | 22.8 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 11 | 279 | 8 | 1.91 | .00 | 22.6 |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 16 | 269 | 8 | 1.88 | .06 | 22.5 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 16 | 243 | 19 | 1.38 | .38 | 22.0 |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 16 | 269 | 0 | 2.00 | .00 | 22.0 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 16 | 216 | 24 | 2.19 | .00 | 22.0 |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 16 | 272 | 2 | 1.81 | .13 | 21.8 |
| Nick Mullens, S.F. | 8 | 285 | -2 | 1.63 | .00 | 20.8 |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 11 | 233 | 9 | 1.91 | .00 | 20.2 |
| Eli Manning, NYG | 16 | 269 | 1 | 1.31 | .06 | 19.6 |
| Joe Flacco, Balt. | 9 | 274 | 5 | 1.33 | .00 | 19.5 |
| Blake Bortles, Jac. | 12 | 223 | 28 | 1.08 | .08 | 18.8 |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 16 | 253 | 3 | 1.19 | .06 | 18.2 |
| Case Keenum, Den. | 16 | 243 | 6 | 1.13 | .13 | 18.0 |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 13 | 220 | 11 | 1.31 | .08 | 17.8 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 16 | 236 | 4 | 1.31 | .00 | 17.5 |
| Alex Smith, Wash. | 10 | 218 | 17 | 1.00 | .10 | 17.2 |
| Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 11 | 180 | 13 | 1.55 | .09 | 17.0 |
| Marcus Mariota, Ten. | 13 | 187 | 24 | .85 | .15 | 16.0 |
| Josh Rosen, Ariz. | 13 | 172 | 10 | .85 | .00 | 13.1 |
I’m not as optimistic about Beckham’s numbers. With the Browns having plenty of other capable pass catchers, I don’t think he’ll be a dominating No. 1 receiver. I don’t he’ll be catching 100-plus passes and double-digit touchdowns. Not even a consideration for top-5 numbers, I think, and I doubt he’ll be in my top 10 at the position.
—Ian Allan