Reaction To Dorial Green-Beckham Trade

The Titans shocked the NFL world earlier today when they dealt 2015 second-round wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham to the Eagles in exchange for offensive lineman Dennis Kelly. Let’s take a look at some of the reaction to the surprising trade:

• The Titans were consistently disappointed in Green-Beckham’s work ethic, tweets Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports, who adds that DGB repeatedly disregarded instructions to work out harder over the offseason and to enter training camp in the proper shape. Head coach Mike Mularkey confirmed that sentiment, telling reporters, including Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com (Twitter link): “We had many conversations about that and it never did click in.”
• However, DGB never did have issues with missed meetings or lateness, tweets McCormick. Rather, Green-Beckham just never mastered the Titans’ offense during his year-plus with the squad.
• Trade talks between Tennessee and Philadelphia began last week, per McCormick (Twitter links), and general manager Jon Robinson says the deal boiled down to the fact that the club had a surplus at wide receiver and a need along the offensive line.
• The presence of rookie Tajae Sharpe seems to have played a large role in the trade, as McCormick tweets that DHB had lost reps to Sharpe in practice. Indeed, DGB was behind Rishard Matthews, Sharpe, Kendall Wright, Harry Douglas, and Andre Johnson on the Titans’ depth chart, per Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
• According to Robinson, the deal wasn’t intended to send a message to Tennessee’s wide receiver corps, or to make a statement to the team as a whole. Rather, the GM says he was simply trying to improve the Titans’ roster (Twitter link via Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com).
• The Eagles, meanwhile, had been searching for receiver help for some time, and had even offered a “nice deal” to veteran Anquan Boldin before he signed with the Lions, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
• Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman isn’t taking much of a risk by acquiring DGB given that he can easily be waived, but the trade shows the weak state of the Eagles’ wide receiving group, opines Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).