It's always something

Four days until the home (and season) opener against the Tennessee Titans and Browns Nation already has something about which to worry or at least be concerned.

Odell Beckham Jr., who has been a spectator throughout the 2019 exhibition season, opened up to the media Thursday about an injury that has plagued him the last couple of months and apparently rendered him not fit to play..

Beckham, who missed the final four games last season and a dozen more two years ago with injuries, admitted an injured hip has not allowed him to be the star wide receiver the Browns believed they traded for. Yet.

He tried to explain exactly what the problem was, but at the same time insisted he would be in the lineup against the Titans and not to be anxious.

“It’s like an extremely fast car with a little alignment or something off and it’s right in the center of what you need,” he said. “Now the car can still go, but it’s dangerous.” What “it” referred to was not explained.

The injury has affected his speed. “Especially with what I’ve had going on, I’ve been kind of afraid to just open up,” he said. “It’s something that hinders me from fully sprinting as fast as I can. I’d rather get to Sunday and open up than be running around and hinder myself before the game.”

How it happened, he said, was a mystery. “I don’t even know,” he said. “ Just one day after practice I was feeling weird. No route or no play, no cut and it just kind of happened. When my adrenaline is going, I can’t feel anything.”

He said he was trying to solve the mystery and figure out how to deal with it. “I have been in and out of rehab every single day,” he said. “ I’ve never dealt with anything like that.”

Against the Titans, he said he is “going to be running as fast as I can, so if that’s not 100%, I feel confident in myself to wherever I’m at. I’m going to be ready to play with whatever I’ve got. Once you get out there, it’s a different energy you have. It’s different adrenaline. I feel nothing will get in the way of that.”

The club maintains Beckham does not have a hip pointer, an injury known to result in a lengthy period of inactivity. At the risk of practicing medicine without a license, another possibility might be arthritis

Another outside-the-box theory: It’s also more possible than probable that Beckham is attempting to con the Titans into believing he won’t be 100% and then flourish in his Browns debut. At this point, though, one has to wonder why he would publicly divulge such an injury.

If the hip is, indeed, a problem, it won’t take much to exacerbate the situation with an awkward landing following a reception or a solid open-field hit in that area. Extra padding in the affected area might not be sufficient.

It will also be interesting to see whether, or how much, Beckham’s admission affects the offensive game plan of coach Freddie Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken.