Browns' Odell Beckham Jr. says 'the blond is back' and so is a different attitude

ByJAKE TROTTER
July 14, 2020, 12:09 PM

Odell Beckham's blond hair is back. The Cleveland Browns wide receiver said a different attitude is coming with it.

Beckham recently hosted a roundtable on his YouTube channel with Atlanta Falcons running back Todd Gurley; New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton, with whom Beckham has worked out this offseason; and former NFL receiver Victor Cruz, a former teammate of Beckham's on the New York Giants. During the hourlong discussion, Cruz asked Beckham about his mindset for the upcoming season, coming off a disappointing, injury-plagued debut year with the Browns, which ended in a 6-10 record, then offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia.

Beckham initially answered the question by simply taking off his hat, revealing the blond locks that he featured throughout his tenure with the Giants but that were conspicuously absent in his first season with the Browns.

Immediately, Cruz and Newton both declared, "The blond is back!"

"This is how I feel," Beckham said. "I'm tired of playing your game. Like me and Cam talk about, that humble s---, when you are inside, like, we are humble men ... but they've taken that humbleness as a weakness and they s--- on us. It's crazy to me, because when you're up and you're talking, they hate it. And for me this year, I'm trying to kill. Like, that's it.

"That's why the blond is back. There's nothing you can tell me."

The discussion between the four also covered several other topics, including the Black Lives Matter movement and playing through the coronavirus pandemic. Beckham also admitted to dealing with "depression and mental health issues" while in New York. He said he even considered retiring after breaking his ankle in 2017.

Beckham, however, appears to have put this latest injury behind him, as evidenced by a series of workout videos he has posted to social media and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski recently saying that Beckham is "100 percent" again.

Newton said when working out with him this offseason that Beckham has his swagger back, even comparing OBJ to Simba in "The Lion King."

"I was seeing this side, that it was just like, he believing in, like, himself," Newton said. "And I'm like, 'Bro, do you not know who you are, bro? You gotta roar, bro.'"