Johnson III Says He Tried Recruiting Odell Beckham Jr. Back to Browns

Odell Beckham Jr. has yet to make an official announcement of where he will be playing next season. Will he stay with the Rams, or is a return to the Browns potentially on the horizon?

Back in March, his former teammate in Cleveland John Johnson III decided to try to recruit Beckham Jr. back to Cleveland himself by saying the receiver committed to the Browns on an Instagram Live. Obviously, Beckham Jr. had not done so.

“It was kind of a shot in the dark,” Johnson said in an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal. “That was me recruiting. Honestly, there was no backstory to it. There was no insider information. It was just like, ‘I want him here. I’ve got a feeling that he might come back.’ But I don't know. We’ll see.”

Beckham Jr. played six games for the Browns in the 2021 season before he signed with the Rams, helping them to win Super Bowl LVI in February. There’s reportedly a good chance the three-time Pro Bowler stays in Los Angeles after the successful run he had last season, but it’s still up in the air.

Despite the fact that Johnson wanted Beckham Jr. on the Browns with him, he admitted that he was happy for the outcome his old teammate got last season.

“People that you care about, people that you grind with, you always want to see them succeed,” Johnson told the Beacon Journal. “Obviously, I wanted it to be here. But at the end of the day, I want him to be happy, and I want him to succeed. ... I think just being somewhere where he was in a comfortable situation [was important to him], and then on the field he got more touches than he did here, scored a lot more. Anytime there’s a guy you care about, you want to see them be happy, and that's what it looked like. He got the title. He was crying tears of joy, so he's blessed, and I'm happy for him.”

Johnson was only teammates with Beckham Jr. during the 2021 season after he came from a four-year stint with the Rams. Beckham Jr. played in Cleveland from 2019 until Nov. 11, 2022 when he signed a one-year deal with the Rams. He previously played five years with the Giants.

The 26-year-old safety still keeps in contact with Beckham Jr., but he still doesn’t know where his former teammate plans to be located for the 2022 season.

“I mean, when I talk to him, it's not even about anything like that, but if I had to guess, I would think it would be somewhere he's comfortable,” Johnson said. “He just had a baby. Whether that's here or L.A., that's what would I want. I don't know. I have no idea. We've just got to stay tuned.”

• Browns Digest: Houston Texans Being Sued Alongside Deshaun Watson

For more Cleveland Browns coverage, go to Browns Digest.