CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns allowed the nation to witness their inability to throw to their most dynamic playmaker on Monday night in a 31-3 blowout loss to the 49ers.

Odell Beckham Jr., though he had two carries and even threw a pass, only caught two balls (for a consecutive week) totaling 27 yards. On the season, Beckham has 23 catches for 335 yards and one touchdown.

No matter how you slice it, that is a glaring issue.

Many predicted Beckham would have a career season after leaving the aging Eli Manning and joining an accurate thrower like Baker Mayfield. Instead, it’s been the opposite. Beckham is on pace for 1,072 yards receiving on 74 catches. Three times in his five-year career he’s eclipsed 1,300 yards.

So what is the issue?

Cleveland has a No. 1 overall pick at quarterback, several playmakers around Beckham and a coach who got the job for his creative and effective playcalling. This should be working.

But it isn’t. After watching (and rewatching) every route Beckham ran Monday night, there is plenty of blame to go around, but most of it lands on Mayfield not identifying when Beckham is -- or will be -- open.

Let’s look at some examples where Mayfield:

should have thrown to Beckham but didn’t;

could have gone to Beckham, but Mayfield lacked anticipation;

and tried to throw to Beckham, but he was not open.

Should have thrown to Beckham but didn’t

A recurring theme in Monday’s game was Mayfield not seeing Beckham when he would get open. Mayfield should not have his eyes locked on Beckham every play, but there were several examples where Beckham had one-on-one coverage and Mayfield’s eyes never jumped.

In this first example, Mayfield should be able to tell during presnap that Beckham will have single coverage, especially on his eventual out-breaking route. Instead, Mayfield doesn’t peek at Beckham (13, bottom of screen), who eventually opens.

In defense of Mayfield, the pass rush (Nick Bosa) is coming from his left, which makes this throw very difficult. But the fact he does not look left before tossing an interception means Mayfield predetermined he was throwing right.

This next miss is inexcusable. As I’ve said before, Mayfield owns his mistakes. He likely saw this on film and was harder on himself than anyone else, but that doesn’t change the fact this is another touchdown Mayfield left on the field.

Beckham is split right at the bottom of the screen, matched up with cornerback Richard Sherman (25) in single coverage. At the snap, Beckham stems Sherman -- meaning that Beckham angles his route so that his helmet is square with Sherman’s -- therefore he gains a leverage advantage. This technique gives Beckham a two-way-go and makes it difficult for Sherman to know which way the receiver may break.

After a quick shake to the outside, Beckham breaks in and is wide open. However, Mayfield is locked on tight end Demetrius Harris (88) to his left. The 49ers make a heck of a pass deflection, but Mayfield needs to look left, only to quickly shift his eyes right and put a dart on Beckham.

Just as Mayfield missed Jarvis Landry on a red-zone chance in Week 3 vs. the Rams and instead threw to the tight end, Mayfield misses this.

Watch the end of the play closely and notice Beckham leap in the air. At first it seems he is reacting to the near touchdown connection from Mayfield to Harris. But after further review, Beckham is leaping in frustration because this should’ve been six.

Once again, Beckham is isolated on the bottom with single coverage as determined presnap. As the play develops, Mayfield doesn’t look his way.

It should be mentioned this play occurred with 10 seconds remaining in the half and Mayfield was likely looking for a home-run ball, but this is another example of the Browns not taking what is available to them. A quick completion to Beckham here means Cleveland is near midfield with about 6 seconds left.

If Mayfield throws to Beckham, obviously there is no guarantee the drive ends with points, but you can bet Mayfield would not have been fielding questions about Nick Bosa’s flag-planting celebration days later.

Mayfield could have thrown to Beckham, but lacked anticipation

Then there are plays where Beckham is open and Mayfield sees him but does not throw the ball with anticipation and the opportunity breaks down.

A fruitful connection between a quarterback and receiver requires complete trust in the quarterback knowing exactly where his target is going to be and when he is going to be there. Windows close too quickly in the NFL for every throw to be made after the quarterback sees it open.

Here, Beckham (bottom of screen) opens up vs. zone coverage on a deep-in or search route but Mayfield doesn’t rip it right out of Beckham’s break. By the time he wants to throw for Beckham, it is too late.

For the first time, Mayfield admitted Wednesday that Beckham missing training camp “definitely hurt” their timing. That isn’t an excuse. It is completely accurate. Just as Mayfield isn’t trusting his offensive line in pass protection, he does not trust Beckham to be where he should be on these timing routes.

That isn’t a knock on Mayfield or a dig at Beckham’s route running. Rather, these two just have not had enough live reps together for such intermediate routes to work efficiently.

After quickly falling behind, coach Freddie Kitchens dialed up a deep shot for Beckham. Two things are puzzling about this play. First, Mayfield does not give Beckham’s deep route time to develop, which may have turned out to be a good thing because the 49ers’ right defensive end embarrasses left tackle Greg Robinson (78) off the line and has a clear shot at Mayfield.

Another example of Mayfield not trusting his offensive line, he takes the easy yardage to Landry (bottom of screen) on Sherman (25) rather than anticipating Beckham beating his defender on a double move and cruising past the single-high safety, which he does.

Second, Mayfield must not have known the Browns had a free play as the 49ers were offsides. Because of the completion, Cleveland declined.

This is why Beckham is likely growing frustrated. When he is open or has single coverage, Mayfield is not getting him the ball, even on free plays.

Mayfield looked at Beckham but he wasn’t open

Then there are cases where Mayfield is looking Beckham’s way and either does throw him the ball or wants to but Beckham isn’t open.

Through five weeks, Beckham is the league’s 12th most targeted receiver (43). Saying Kitchens and Mayfield aren’t trying to get him the ball is inaccurate.

Instead, Beckham isn’t getting the ball when he should and is being force fed when he isn’t open.

On this play, Mayfield recognizes both his outside receivers have one-on-one coverage. At the snap, he locks onto Beckham, who takes a long time to break outside after releasing inside. Clearly Mayfield’s eyes and shoulders are pointed at Beckham. He wants to throw it to him, but Beckham never opens up, forcing Mayfield to his second progression, a wide-open Landry versus Sherman.

This was one of Mayfield’s best throws of the year. He sensed pressure, climbed the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield, and when his first option was not available, he found someone who was. It’s an impressive play and an example of what peak Mayfield will look like.

Remember when Beckham was open for a touchdown but Mayfield did not see him? Well, Kitchens called a similar concept on the following play. Beckham ran the same exact route but this time Sherman, being the future Hall of Famer that he is, did not bite.

Mayfield stares Beckham down during the play, and when he isn’t open, chaos ensues.

Lastly, Beckham isn’t lying when he says feels like he is double teamed all the time. That is how he feels because he is often doubled. Is he always double covered? No. But an example here shows Mayfield making the correct read, throwing with anticipation to Landry short while Beckham carries two defenders deep.

What we learned

With time, Mayfield is going to start connecting with Beckham. Kitchens is calling plays that open Beckham and that will translate into productivity soon.

Of course, much of this is on Mayfield’s shoulders to read both his presnap reads and overall progressions, which will make identifying when Beckham is or will be open easier.

Mayfield is the quarterback, picked first overall for a reason. Beckham -- one of football’s great talents -- is open. The tape doesn’t lie and Mayfield is watching the same film we are.

He already knows all this. Now it’s time to act on it.

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