Getting Worms: Your Morning Eagles Training Camp Reader
Mike Sielski thinks Sam Bradford was right to wanna get out of here. Philly.com:
Of course, Bradford praised the trade just minutes after admitting that he knew “nothing” about Green-Beckham as a player or a person, and, well, there’s a lot to know. In college, Green-Beckham faced several minor drug charges and was involved in an incident in which, according to a police report, he kicked down the door to his girlfriend’s home and threw another victim down some stairs. Combine that background with Green-Beckham’s inconsistency on the field – “It’s been bad day, good day,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey told the Tennessean – and you begin to understand why the Titans were happy to settle for a backup tackle in exchange for a player with Green-Beckham’s potential. In a vacuum, the trade makes sense from the Eagles’ standpoint. But the team’s vice president of football operations, Howie Roseman, didn’t make it in a vacuum. It’s part of a pattern that has defined the franchise’s offseason: the acquisition of players of questionable character. Wendell Smallwood, Alex McCalister, Jalen Mills, Nigel Bradham, Green-Beckham: Each of them has been either arrested or suspended at least once since college. And why are all of them here? It’s the same reason Bradford, four months ago, asked to play somewhere else… Start fresh. Make your strategy and purpose clear. Trade Bradford, just as he requested. Bring in Chase Daniel as a placeholder. Don’t consign Wentz to being the No. 3 quarterback – to giving him fewer reps in practice than he otherwise might get (and that’s before he fractures his rib). Make his development into a franchise quarterback your top priority for the 2016 season. Instead, the Eagles are scrambling to maintain the appearance of competitiveness this season, and their decision-making reflects nothing but muddled thinking.
Nelson Agholor isn’t nervous with Green-Beckham on board. Philly.com:
“I don’t look at it as a message, I look at it as an opportunity for us to become a better football team,” Agholor said. “They want the same thing I want, and that’s to win football games and to be a great football team.” Agholor says he knows Green-Beckham from the draft process – Green-Beckham went 40th overall, in the second round, to Tennessee last year, when Agholor went 20th. They have the same agent group and both are adidas clients. “I know him very well. I have a lot of respect for him,” Agholor said. “I think he’s a great football player. He’s a competitor. He’s a guy with a lot of talent, and he’s going to help us out. He’s a good person . . . We’re very close.”
But does Agholor have what it takes to ever be the guy anyway? Philly.com:
Whether he says so publicly or not, Agholor should have extra motivation. How could he not? But the answers he gives and the way he carries himself suggest that he lacks a certain alpha dog gene that almost every elite receiver must possess. DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin weren’t the best receivers in the NFL when they played for the Eagles, but you can bet they thought they were or at least carried themselves in that manner. Mike Quick, a long time ago, felt the same way. Matthews has that moxie. All of them, at some point during their careers, said they took the field believing they were preeminent receivers. Does Agholor think he’s the best?
Howie Roseman is taking a risk with Green-Beckham. Philly.com:
Is it a really big, game-changing win, though? Unless Titans general manager Jon Robinson is of the Chip Kelly school of personnel management – “I’m tired of dealing with this guy, get him out of here, who cares what we get?” – this is a Roseman Hail Mary. As he did in the draft last spring, Roseman is hoping qualities like maturity, intensity and dedication to craft can be taught. Quickly taught.
Roseman doesn’t think DGB is a bad locker room presence. PhillyMag:
“Obviously, he’s made mistakes, but he’s a good-hearted kid. That he has the right intentions, and that if you get a chance to really spend some time with him, you’ll see that. He’s not a locker room cancer at all,” Roseman said. “He’s got a rare skill set. Now, there’s a reason that he’s available at this time. He’s got to get more consistent, like we’re talking about, but for us and where we are in development, we thought it was a risk worth taking. Because of where we are from a pick standpoint going forward, we’re going to have to take some chances to make sure that we increase the talent level.”
And it’s all about his potential. Philly Voice:
Part of the reason the team combined for just 114 receiving yards on 36 pass attempts in the 17-9 win was abysmal play from their wideouts that included more than a few dropped passes. And yes, the team’s best receiver, Jordan Matthews, was out with a knee injury that isn’t likely to carry over into the regular season, but even his return would leave quarterback Sam Bradford with a less-than-desirable group of targets. While the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Green-Beckham comes with his own set of off-field issues (more on that later), it’s his size and raw ability that has Roseman and head coach Doug Pederson excited.
And Doug Pederson isn’t here to help you clean up your act. CSN:
The question is, why were the Titans so eager to rid themselves of a second-round pick from a year ago? Now, putting aside the possibility that they just had to have Dennis Kelly, there are a few reasons. One of which shouldn’t scare Eagles fans too much: they have an overabundance of wide receivers. Fair enough. But what about the other possible reasons? Titans head coach Mike Mularkey hasn’t been quiet about wanting more consistency from Green-Beckham, the receiver’s work ethic had come into question, and by all accounts, he had slipped mightily on the depth chart, despite a decent 32-catch rookie season. Roseman on Tuesday acknowledged Mularkey’s public comments about Green-Beckham’s lack of consistency…Then, there are off-the-field concerns and there are plenty of them, which led to his dismissal from Missouri. The first two involved marijuana. The last included a burglary and assault investigation in which a woman claimed Green-Beckham pushed her down stairs. He was never charged in the incident. After his dismissal from Missouri, he went to Oklahoma but never played… “I’m gonna preface this by saying we’re not in the rehabilitation business,” head coach Doug Pederson said. “But at the same time, we feel like with the staff that I’ve assembled on offense, with the personnel staff upstairs, we can bring guys in that might have had a little bit of a history and we can help these players. Not only become young men, but become good football players.”