The Cleveland Browns were an exciting team in 2018. They had drafted quarterback Baker Mayfield and he seemed to be the missing piece that could finally make them legitimate contenders. 2019 was meant to be the year. The year the Browns finally made it back to the playoffs. And the hype was only enhanced when they acquired superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in the offseason.
Beckham Jr. was the perfect pairing for Mayfield. Especially as they were adding him to a receiver group that already had Jarvis Landry. So the offense was going to be unstoppable and the team that went from 0-16 to 7-8-1 in just one year was going to take the next step.
That's not what happened though. Mayfield had a sophomore slump. And Beckham Jr. did not click in the offense the way that everyone thought he would. His numbers were down, at least for what people expect from Beckham Jr. that is.
Does that hurt his fantasy prospects for 2020 though? Let's take a look at his past and consider his future. What the fantasy football outlook for Beckham Jr. in 2020?
2019 Fantasy Stats
As I said earlier, Odell Beckham Jr. had a down year in 2019. The good news for fantasy owners is, it was a “down year” by his terms.
That means it was still a season most wide receivers in the NFL would love to have.
Beckham Jr. managed to rack up 74 receptions for 1,035 yards and four receiving touchdowns.
The numbers were still great. Were they like perfect, top-tier type numbers. No, not exactly. But they were still really good numbers that most fantasy owners would love. He probably did not put up the type of numbers that you would want from someone taken in the first round, but he probably wasn't going that early anyways.
Consistency was a bit of a problem though. Beckham Jr. had three games with just two receptions. None of those saw him record more than 40 receiving yards and he had zero touchdowns in those games.
The wide receiver also had two games with just three receptions and two more with four receptions. He had a touchdown in two of those games and only one game had over 60 receiving yards.
Beckham Jr. had a few bigger games, and those pumped up the numbers a bit. Those low number weeks wouldn't hurt too bad if he had more massive games. But for the most part, it was good-to-great games, or bad games. No dominant games that won fantasy owners weeks.
So they did not really get those equalizers. That hurts a bit.
2020 Fantasy Projections
2020 should be a much better season for Odell Beckham Jr. though. Consistency might still be a bit of a problem. This time those equalizer games will be there though.
We might get treated to a few more 100-yard, multi-touchdown games. Those games that made Beckham Jr. so dominant in the past.
Mayfield should be better than he was last year. He was extremely disappointing in 2019, and even he seems to know that.
The quarterback appears ready to reverse his fortunes this upcoming season. And that is going to make some major changes to the offense.
Even if Mayfield still struggles though, Beckham Jr. should see improvement anyways.
The wide receiver was in his first year in the offense. Everyone had to get used to his style of play and personality, and he had to get used to everyone else as well.
That includes Mayfield. And now that he is more comfortable with Beckham Jr., it seems pretty obvious that the quarterback is going to throw to his star receiver quite a bit more.
And yes, he threw the ball to Beckham Jr. a lot last season (133 times). But the targets just seemed to be off. There should be a much better chemistry between the two.
With that in mind, Beckham Jr. is going to put up his “normal” stats. Or at least, something much closer to what people expect from him.
So what are we looking at with the star wide receiver in 2020? How does 90 receptions for 1,250 yards and 10 touchdowns this year sound?
The consistency will be a little bit better. He's going to have more massive performances as well.
This is the type of production people expect from him. And it's the type of production that warrants an early round pick. Beckham Jr. should still be going in the second or third round in most fantasy leagues. His numbers were still great in 2019 and 2020 only going to be better.
Rank At Position
The wide receiver position is absolutely stacked. And it does not help Odell Beckham Jr. that he has another star receiver on his team already in Landry.
Yes, that can help on a lot of occasions. Having someone to take the pressure off you is fantastic. It means the opposing defense has to focus on multiple people and can't just zero in on you the whole game.
But for Beckham Jr., the targets taken away from him might become a slight issue.
Nothing to bad though, so it's not something that's going to kill his fantasy football outlook or anything like that.
But then you look at other receivers around the league. It's hard not to put Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints ahead of him. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have two wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin that should be in the top group as well.
Of course, there is Davante Adams of the Green Bay Packers and DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals as well. Atlanta Falcons' superstar Julio Jones deserves a top-3 spot obviously.
There are other superstars, I could keep listing players for quite some time. But let's cut it off there and keep going the rest of the focus on Beckham Jr., or else we could be here all day.
And of course, there are plenty of players knocking on the door. If any of those players take the next step, someone could be knocked out of their spot near the top of the list.
So where exactly does Beckham Jr. fall on the list? He's not nearly as high as he would have been in the past. But he still makes it into the top-10, falling in at seventh in the rankings.
Odell Beckham Jr. will be a fantasy football star once again in 2020. Don't be afraid to take him high in your fantasy league. He'll give you plenty of production, pull the trigger.
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