The Cleveland Browns are a dysfunctional team on the field ... and a hot mess off the field. Besides the Browns season slowly becoming extinct with a 2-6 record, the team had equipment issues unheard of in today's NFL (which is saying a lot with the many uniform restrictions).
CBS Sports NFL analyst Jay Feely reported during the broadcast of Cleveland's loss to the Denver Broncos that Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry were ordered by the NFL to change their cleats at halftime if they wished to continue playing. Both players were told that the cleats violated the league's uniform policy.
Beckham's cleats were blue and red with a face that looked like "Joker" while Landry wore orange cleats that looked more like the Broncos' shade of orange than the Browns' orange. The Browns wore their home brown jerseys in Denver on a day the Broncos wore their home orange uniforms, which presented the confusion to Beckham as he attempted to explain why he was told to change the cleats.
Jay Feely reports the NFL told Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry to change their shoes at halftime or they won’t be allowed to play.
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) November 3, 2019
Browns in a nutshell this year. pic.twitter.com/Z3UHJDG5Wc
"To be honest, obviously you guys know I have a deal with Nike. I really wasn't going to say nothing, but if I don't say something then it's just going to be used against me," Beckham said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN. "I have a deal with Nike. We were supposed to wear white jerseys this week. In the offseason, before the season even starts, in June and July, we sit down and we map out the cleats. 'All right, this is it. Bam! This is the jersey you're going to wear. Cool.'
"This week, on Wednesday or Thursday, we switched jerseys from the white to the all brown, so I had no cleats left to wear. I had none I could have wore, and the black ones I was wearing for the rest of the game for some reason was just hurting my feet, so I went to the ones that was most comfortable. I'm pretty sure they changed the rule and cleats wasn't a big deal. It's only a big deal to the people who are talking about it."
A wild Week 9 is almost in the books and there's a lot to go over. Fortunately, Will Brinson, John Breech, Ryan Wilson and Sean Wagner-McGough are here to break everything down on the latest episode of the Pick Six Podcast. Listen to the full show below and be sure to subscribe right here to get daily NFL news fired into your eardrums.
This is the third known uniform violation for Beckham this year. The first was in Week 1 when he was fined for wearing a reported $2.2 million watch, and the second came in Week 6 when his uniform pants didn't cover his knees.
Beckham believes the league is singling him out, but there may be a bigger problem here. The Browns wide receiver may want to take a look into the mirror.
"I've seen people in cleats that are completely different colored from their team and they can wear them all game on a prime-time game," Beckham said. "For some reason when it comes to me, it's just not the case."