The Browns are getting ready to play the Jets on Monday night, which means that they will be facing off against their former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams. Even though Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t overlap with Williams in Cleveland, he has his own history with the Jets’ new defensive coordinator, and it is not a pleasant one.
While talking to reporters today, Beckham said that back in 2017, when his Giants took on the Browns in a preseason game, Williams ordered his players to try to hurt Beckham, and those orders resulted in Beckham leaving the game with a high ankle sprain:
Beckham said he got this scoop from players who were on the Browns in 2017, and that the high ankle sprain he suffered led to a cascade of injuries that “changed [his] life forever.” Here’s video of the hit in question:
Given that Williams was one of the lead architects of the Saints’ bounty program, and that he has never conducted himself in any way that would indicate he isn’t the type of nutjob who would ask his players to injure an opponent in the preseason, it’s pretty easy to believe Beckham’s side of the story. What’s harder to believe is that an absolute maniac like Williams keeps landing NFL gigs.