It's getting messy

The fecal matter has hit the fan at 76 Lou Groza Blvd. in Berea, Ohio. Odell Beckham Jr., it would appear, is not welcome anymore at the west side training home of the Browns.

For reasons that might become clear later, the mercurial wide receiver was told Wednesday not to report to practice for Sunday's game against the Bengals in Cincinnati. The team couched the move by calling it an  "excused" absence. In other words, he was instructed to stay away.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski Wednesday explained he "just felt it was the right thing to do." Michael Silver of the NFL Network tweeted Stefanski told his players Beckham was "essentially not on the team right now . . . and was told to stay home."

Replied Stefanski when asked about Silver's tweet, "I would just tell you today he's excused and we'll see where this goes." It quite likely is being handled on a level above Stefanski.

That probably means Beckham's representatives and Cleveland General Manager Andrew Berry are  huddling in an effort to bring this unpleasant chapter to a conclusion agreeable to both sides. Suspending Beckham with pay for the rest of the season or just flat out cutting him -- addition by subtraction -- are two of the possibilities.

The directive came less than 24 hours after Beckham's father, Odell, posted a damning video on Instagram belittling Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. The 11-minute video, entitled Odell is Always Open, shows numerous occasions when his son was open and ignored by Mayfield. It went viral.

Mayfield pronounced himself "as surprised (at the video) as you were." when addressing the situation Wednesday with the Cleveland media. "Hurt? No. Surprised, yes, I want Odell to succeed. That's where we're at. At least that's what I thought."

One of the sticking points -- and this is just a guess -- is Junior did not respond in any way to his father's video, either separating himself from it or criticizing him for posting it. His silence could be construed as tacit approval.

It very well could become -- maybe it already has -- the tipping point in the relationship between the player and the team, a relationship that has not worked since the Browns traded for him on March 13, 2019 in a blockbuster deal with the New York Giants made by then-General Manager John Dorsey.

The working relationship, at least on the field, between Mayfield and Beckham seems to have degenerated and festered to the point where the club felt it had to do something to defuse a situation that was becoming toxic in the view of some members of the media.

The possibility of dividing the locker room, especially at this stage of the season when the team is still in contention despite losing three of the last four games, is palpable. Beckham's forced absence is not helping the situation.

The nadir was reached in Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at home when Mayfield targeted Beckham just once -- a six-yard screen pass -- as the offense sputtered throughout the game. It was embarrassing the former All-Pro receiver was virtually ignored.

The cracks in the veneer of Stefanski, also the playcaller for the offense and person mainly responsible for the amount of targets Beckham gets, are becoming more noticeable by the game. What worked in last season's 11-5 record isn't this season and he thus far has failed to uncover a solution.

The fact the Browns became one of the National Football League's most dangerous teams in the second half of last season without the services of Beckham, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury in game seven, was the first clue the situation was headed in the wrong direction.

For reasons that might never be adequately explained, last season's statistics proved Mayfield had a much better relationship with wide receivers Rashard Higgins, Jarvis Landry, KhaDarel Hodge (now with the Detroit Lions) and Donovan Peoples-Jones down the stretch than he ever had with Beckham.

How this all affects the remainder of the season will now be played out in the next nine games as the Browns, who evaded drama all last season and qualified for the postseason as a result for the first time since 2002, are back in the drama business. Not a good omen for a team that specialized in drama and languished in the division basement on an annual basis since then.