Is Dorial Green-Beckham’s career over already?
By Matt Conner
Two years ago, Dorial Green-Beckham was a wide receiver with first round potential set to prove his critics wrong.
Tomorrow it will be 50 days exactly since Dorial Green-Beckham became a free agent. That’s seven full weeks for 32 NFL teams to decide that a second round pick from two years ago in a pass-happy league isn’t worth a look when rosters are allowed up to 90 players.
Let that sink in for a minute. (Well, maybe don’t dwell on it if you’re DGB himself.)
Two years ago, Green-Beckham was a “steal” in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft for the Tennessee Titans. Two years later, that same team selected Corey White and Taywan Taylor with two of their first three picks because they still need so much help at wide receiver. In fact, it only took one year for the Titans to give up on DGB and trade him to the Philadelphia Eagles. The cost for Philly: a versatile back-up offensive lineman named Dennis Kelly.
By now you likely know the rest of the story. The Eagles splurged on wide receivers this offseason as well, albeit in free agency, because Green-Beckham wasn’t the answer there either. Instead of fulfilling his potential with a change of scenery or finding motivation after being traded so soon after being drafted, DGB failed to impress from the start. One year later, the Eagles not only released DGB outright but spent serious cash on the open market to bring in Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith.
In either scenario, the entire offseason plan for two NFL teams would have unfolded much differently if only Green-Beckham had worked out as hoped.
Kansas City Chiefs
What happened to Green-Beckham? The signs were there all along pointing to a lack of motivation and poor work ethic, despite the obvious physical skills. He was dismissed from the Missouri football team after multiple run-ins with the law over marijuana possession. The final straw came when police were called after Green-Beckham reportedly pushed a woman down a few stairs (four). No charges were filed in the end, but Gary Pinkel had clearly had enough.
Green-Beckham soon transferred to Oklahoma, but he apparently wasn’t keen on waiting that long to play football again. After sitting out a single season, DGB went ahead and threw his name into the hat for the 2015 NFL Draft. Instead of suiting up at Oklahoma, he went straight into the draft and even after a year away from the game and the legal history, DGB was still given a first-round grade by many draft analysts. The Titans came calling atop the second round.
Back to the present. Fifty days have now passed since the Eagles decided to cut their losses and sign another player to their 90-man roster. Right now, Philly has 12 wide receivers on their roster, each of whom they’ve decided would be a better fit or addition to the team than Green-Beckham, in whom they’ve already had some level of investment. That tells the story in full.
What’s interesting is that not a single team in the NFL has picked up Green-Beckham or even invited him in for a tryout since he cleared waivers. That means every team not only passed on his $944K base salary, but they’re also not even interested in interviewing him to see whether he’s learned some things. Is it possible that Dorial Green-Beckham never plays another down of professional football?
It’s sad to see someone for whom something comes so easily take it for granted. The same could be said for Josh Gordon or Justin Blackmon. Perhaps it will take some time, maybe even an entire year away from the professional game, but here’s hoping DGB wakes up to what might have been and is inspired enough to make it happen.