Are Eagles Playoff Contenders After Trading For Dorial Green-Beckham?

The Philadelphia Eagles made a splash move to improve their passing game on Tuesday morning, pulling the trigger on a trade for Tennessee Titans wide receiver, Dorial Green-Beckham.

DGB to Philly

Dorial Green-Beckham had reportedly been falling out of favor with the Titans due to inconsistent practice performances and reports about a shoddy work ethic, but the Eagles made a play for an elite talent that was available for the right price. That price wasn’t at all steep for the Eagles, who shipped versatile offensive lineman Danny Kelly to the Titans to land DGB.

Questionable Decision

The trade made waves in the NFL ream on Tuesday, as it appeared like a knee-jerk reaction by the Titans due to DGB’s inability to separate himself from a vanilla receiving corps. There was no denying Green-Beckham’s sketchy past or his up and down rookie season last year.

However, DGB is a top shelf talent that at 23 years old, hasn’t even begun to tap into his full potential. That looks something like this:

Whether it was due to a lack of motivation or his surroundings, Green-Beckham arguably needed a fresh start, and it looks as though he’ll get that in Philly.

On paper, Green-Beckham brings terrific size and play-making ability to the table. If he comes in focused and develops a rapport with starting quarterback Sam Bradford, he might even have a chance to blossom into the special talent people having been raving about over the last few years.

Eagles’ Playoff Hopes

The move likely forces the under-performing Rueben Randle out of town and also likely pushed Nelson Agholor to the slot. Should DGB be the guy the Eagles hope they’re getting, there is a very real possibility Philadelphia is getting a very dangerous down field threat that can make plays over the middle of the field, down the sideline and especially in the red-zone.

Coming out of college, Green-Beckham was compared to Dez Bryant. If he can get himself into top shape and be dialed in for the start of the season, the Eagles could have landed themselves a massive steal.

Of course, that still may not change much in the way of winning games. The Eagles still looked like a floundering unit last year and if new head coach Doug Pederson has his wish, his team will probably run more than they pass.

Still, this has to give the Eagles a boost as a bet in the NFC East, where their odds are currently at the bottom of the division (+400). And forget about their Super Bowl odds (+6600), as the Eagles still have a lot of questions to answer elsewhere. Their defense still has a lot to prove, while stud offensive lineman Lane Johnson is also slated to miss the first 10 games of the year due to a performance enhancing drug suspension.

While the odds are still against the Eagles to win their division or make a random run at the Super Bowl, this big trade at least puts them back on the playoff radar. With those poor division odds at Bovada, they’re slowly looking like an interesting bet coming out of the NFC East. It also could be a good idea to temper our expectations, as DGB needs to lock down a big role and actually make a week-to-week impact first.