Heading into the 2016 season, the Philadelphia Eagles will need its wide receiver corp to step up and make big plays when called upon.
On Tuesday morning, the Eagles made a move to try and bolster this group with the acquisition of wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham from the Tennessee Titans in exchange for offensive lineman Dennis Kelly.
Green-Beckham, a second round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, only caught four receiving touchdowns in his rookie year, catching 32 passes for 549 yards.
Despite getting kicked off the University of Missouri team because of an incident that occurred away from the field after two seasons, the 6-foot-5, 237 pound wide out still recorded 17 touchdowns before having to sit out a year after transferring to Oklahoma.
While he is talented on the field, Green-Beckham does have a history of incidents off-the-field. His dismissal came following a burglary and assault investigation, and he has also been arrested two times for marijuana-related incidents.
General manager Howie Roseman knows the risk in trading for a 'low-risk, high-reward' guy like him.
"We’ve spent a lot of time here in the last few weeks behind the scenes doing some background work. He comes in with an opportunity. No promises have been made and we felt comfortable at this time to bring him in here with an opportunity to compete," Roseman said in an article on the Eagles website.
Green-Beckham will join a crowded corp of Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor, Josh Huff, Chris Givens and Rueben Randle. Given the talent level Green-Beckham showed at times with the Titans, there is no reason to believe that if he stays out of trouble, he is a top-2 or top-3 wide receiver in this offense.
On the other end of this deal, Kelly will be leaving Philadelphia after spending four years with the team as a reserve. It appeared he was low on head coach Doug Pederson's pecking order at right tackle after the news of Lane Johnson's possible suspension broke and Kelly wasn't bumped up to the starting role.
Green-Beckham will be in Pittsburgh this Thursday when the Eagles take on the Steelers, but will be watching from the sidelines as he will certainly need some time to learn a brand new playbook.
Dawkins hired in full-time role
The acquisition of Green-Beckham wasn't the only news of the day to come from Roseman.
After it was announced a couple of weeks back that Brian Dawkins was joining the team's scouting team, Dawkins has now been hired with the title of Football Operations Executive.
Dawkins will be tasked with helping player develop, and it is assumed he was brought on to deal with players who have had issues in the past like Green-Beckham.
