Odell Beckham Jr.: Gregg Williams Told Browns Players to 'Take Me Out'

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. told reporters Thursday that he believes New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams teaches his players to hit dirty, and in 2017 he instructed Cleveland Browns players to take Beckham out during a preseason matchup.

Then playing for the New York Giants, Beckham suffered a high-ankle sprain in that game and later broke that same ankle in Week 5 of the regular season, ending his 2017 campaign. The two teams met again in the preseason in 2018. Williams was the defensive coordinator of the Browns from 2017-18.

Beckham's former teammate, Landon Collins, called out safety Briean Boddy-Calhoun after the hit that injured Beckham in that 2017 preseason game, though he didn't mention Williams in his comments.

"You have all the opportunity in the world to make a play on the ball like that, he had about 30 seconds with the ball in the air," Collins said of Boddy-Calhoun, per Dan Duggan of NJ.com. "He could have made a play on the ball, he could have hit him high—he chose a different route. I can't respect him."

"I couldn't have a teammate next to me playing that way," Collins added. "I couldn't condone it. He had all the opportunity in the world to make a different play. He went a different route and I don't condone it."

Beckham's contention, however, is that Boddy-Calhoun and his teammates were instructed to go after him.

Williams is infamous for his role in the Bountygate scandal after he was suspended for the entire 2012 season, with the NFL finding he spearheaded bounties to hurt opposing players during his time as the New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator.

Williams denied that he instructed players to hurt opponents, elaborating on his stance during a radio interview with Mike Claiborne of KMOX radio in St. Louis in 2015 (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk):

"One of the things was it was on my watch, but there was nothing that hasn't been done in the last 50 years in the sport and there was nothing done to try to hurt somebody. There was never done with anybody trying to injure somebody. I've said this before, I take a look at all these high school programs, little league programs, college programs and you see the decals on the side of the helmet and you wonder, you get those decals because you shake hands and kiss after the game or you get those decals because you rushed for 100 and you threw 17 touchdown passes and you knocked the stuffing out of somebody?"

Despite those comments, Williams' has a reputation for instructing his players to engage in dirty and unnecessarily aggressive play which has persisted throughout his coaching career.