Vegas Oddsmakers Aren't High on Odell Beckham Jr. or Jarvis Landry
The Cleveland Browns are a run-first team and Baker Mayfield hasn't come close to throwing for 4,000 yards in a season. But when Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry are being put in the same category as rookies and injury-prone players, you can't help but notice.
Currently, Beckham has +10000 odds (bet $100 to win $10,000) to lead the league in receiving on WynnBET Sportsbook and Landry has +50000 odds. Bengals rookie Ja'Marr Chase (+6000) and Dolphins WR Will Fuller (+10000), who has never played a full season in five years, are among those with better or similar odds to OBJ. Meanwhile Landry, who led the NFL in receptions in 2017, is the last person on the list.
Sheesh.
Now, before you go and make any bets here, and in fairness to oddsmakers, there's plenty of reasons why they're so low. This also goes beyond the fact that the Browns were among the league leaders in rushing yards and attempts in 2020.
Beckham hasn't sniffed leading the league in receiving yards since 2016 and has missed time because of injuries in three of the last four seasons. He's also coming off a torn ACL.
Landry had 840 yards receiving last year and has only cracked 1,000 yards once in three years with the Browns. He's also more of a possession receiver. To lead the NFL in receiving you need to have some breakaway speed and that's not his strong suit.
So does it seem weird to see these two former Pro Bowlers placed on or below the same level as guys who can't stay healthy and never played in the NFL before? Yes, it does. But there's several reasons when you think about it.
I'm not putting any money on these two to lead the NFL in receiving yards, but if you had to pick one, you gotta go with OBJ. He's been down the last couple of years and he could be cut by the Browns after this season without any dead cap space, a possible move given his high price tag ($15M cap hit) and lack of production. He's going to want to show off this season and I wouldn't be surprised to see him surpass 1,000 receiving yards.
That won't be enough to get the win here, but those long odds can be enticing.