If history is a guide, Odell Beckham Jr. should be the beneficiary of some better-thrown balls this season from Baker Mayfield.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Browns' decision to trade for Odell Beckham this offseason boiled down to talent. The concern was never about Beckham's fit within the offense, or his ability to fit in the locker room, or if they were giving up too much to get him.

The deal boiled down to acquiring an elite player at his position.

The production has been there when Beckham is healthy. In his first three years, he accounted for 288 receptions, 4,122 yards, and 35 touchdowns.

However, as Beckham has dealt with two seasons of injuries, his New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning declined in his ability to deliver the ball.

Manning never was an adequate deep-ball thrower during Beckham time with the Giants. In five seasons with OBJ, Manning had a 33 percent adjusted completion percentage (for drops) on throws of 20-plus yards in air. That was good for a ranking of 40th out of 45 qualifying quarterbacks in that span.

Compare those numbers to Baker Mayfield’s with the Browns, and you can immediately see the difference.

The rookie had the NFL's fifth-best mark in adjusted completion percentage on 20-plus-yard throws last year. His 48 percent number trailed only the Saints' Drew Brees, the Raiders' Derek Carr, the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and the Chargers' Philip Rivers.

Last season, the accuracy issues cause a rift between the wide receiver, the quarterback, and the Giants' coaching staff.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Beckham was only targeted on throws more than 15 yards downfield 36 times in 2018. That's an abnormally low rate for a player of Beckham's skill. For reference, the Falcons' Julio Jones saw 65 such targets.

Manning ranked 22nd in On-Target percentage at 57.9 percent.

And he was 25th in Independent Quarterback Rating (IQR) with an 81.2 mark.

IQR, as measured by Sports Info Solutions, is a stat that builds on the traditional Passer Rating formula by evaluating a quarterback independent of results outside of his control -- plays such as dropped passes, dropped interceptions, and throwaways.

During Freddie Kitchens’ time running the Browns offense from Weeks 9-17, Mayfield posted an On-Target percentage of of 62.5 and an IQR of 109.7, which ranked as the fifth- and seventh-best marks in the league during that span.

The upgrade again, is evident.

Let's look at five examples of where Manning missed Beckham Jr. and left big plays on the field that the receiver will likely make with Mayfield pulling the trigger.

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NO. 5

The Giants send Beckham on a stem/out here, and Manning has the ideal coverage as Atlanta's corner bites on the speed out from No. 2. When the corner bites on the shallow out, it leaves a window for Beckham's deeper out if this ball is thrown to the back pylon. However, Manning misses high and wide.

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NO. 4

This one takes quarterback awareness. The Jaguars show a closed coverage look pre-snap, with a single high safety. But right at the snap they rotate to open with two high safeties). Beckham Jr. is aligned in the slot here and runs the divide down the middle of the field. Once he isolates on the linebacker chasing him, Manning has to see the late coverage to the open middle of the field and let this ball rip to Beckham. Manning never notices and throws a checkdown to his running back. This should have been a big play.

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NO. 3

Again against the Jaguars, the Giants run a post/wheel combination between Beckham, who's at the Z receiver spot, and the tight end. Watch as the tight end's wheel route draws the attention of the play-side safety. Once that safety bounces his feet, Beckham's post route is past him. The separation is easy here, but Manning throws it too far in front and misses a touchdown.

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NO. 2

Beckham runs a "blaze out" route here to the bottom of the screen from his spot as the Z receiver. He creates the separation off his last-second cut, and Manning has plenty of room to drop in this throw, but he sails it high.

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NO. 1

The Giants run a tight alignment play-action scheme. They send Beckham on the out-and-up route, and he splits the coverage with separation. But the ball is underthrown and allows 49ers defensive backs to make up the ground and knock it away.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Manning's 2018 stats when throwing to Beckham were staggering.

Beckham only saw an accurate pass (on-frame or in-stride) on 50 percent of his targets last year.

That was last among wide receivers.

Mayfield was fourth in accurate throw rate from Week 9 onward.

Both Mayfield and OBJ will now be operating within Freddie Kitchens' offense.

The Browns made the deal for Beckham knowing the receiver has the ability to take his game to another level. With Mayfield, the best quarterback Beckham has worked with, the odds of that happening are high.

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Jake Burns played quarterback at the collegiate level and has also coached at multiple levels.

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Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, left, talks with wide receiver Odell Beckham after a pass play in 11-on-11. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

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