Dynasty Scouts Player Profile: Dorial Green-Beckham

Aaron Swinderman

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Editor’s Note: This is a Dynasty Scouts exclusive article by a new writer to DLF, Aaron Swinderman. Remember, our Dynasty Scouts section focuses on the stars of tomorrow, with a laser focus on High School recruits and College players who look to have the talent to be future assets in dynasty leagues and have value today in devy leagues. Dynasty Scouts articles are found in our Premium Content. We look forward to more of Aaron’s work in the future!

To get it out of the way – I think Dorial Green-Beckham, the wide receiver from Oklahoma by way of Missouri, has the highest ceiling in this class. The real concern is his level of maturity and his off the field issues, which include multiple incidents namely, among other things, marijuana and domestic abuse. I am not going to incorporate his off the field issues much more into my analysis. I am not in the minds of the NFL front office executives and how they will take into account his past or how Green-Beckham will conduct himself in the future. Either way, it is something to be wary of as you are making your decisions in fantasy leagues.

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Green-Beckham was one of the top recruits as he came out of high school and committed to play at the University of Missouri. As a true freshman, Green-Beckham won honorable mention for freshman All-American as he produced a season ending line of 28 receptions and 395 yards while leading the team with five touchdowns despite missing a couple of games after an arrest and suspension. Green-Beckham went on to have a stellar sophomore season with 59 catches, 883 yards, and 12 touchdowns, showing clear improvement over his freshman season. After his sophomore season at Missouri, he was dismissed from the football team and transferred to University of Oklahoma where he had to sit out his junior season before he announced that he will be entering the 2015 NFL Draft.

Size – Green-Beckham comes in at 6’6” and 225 pounds and uses every bit of it as he dominates receivers down the sideline and in the end zone. One of the announcers in the game against Kentucky said it best when he commented on the amount of contact between Green-Beckham and the defender, but that it simply did not matter. Green-Beckham has very little trouble beating press coverage and can still complete the catch even with a receiver draped all over him. Additionally, Green-Beckham’s size allows him to box out defenders as he high points the ball and makes him incredibly difficult to tackle in the open field.

Hands – He showed an ability to make catches at various angles and points on the field. He could high point the ball or adjust to a poorly thrown pass. His hands are soft as he allows just the right give to complete the catch but also shows the necessary aggression. On the limited tape that I was able to watch, Green-Beckham seemed to make some bad passes look easy and did not appear to drop many passes he should have brought in.

Blocking – For the most part, Green-Beckham seemed to engage his assignment as a blocker throughout the play which often lead to the running back springing a big gain. That said, there was also the occasional play where Green-Beckham didn’t put forth his best effort as a blocker and more or less just went through the motions. This is extremely important for him to work on since things that don’t appear in the box scores, such as blocking, will often lead coaches to giving a player more playing time. If you do not dedicate yourself as a blocker, you may become a situational player on an offense rather than developing into a key starter.

Speed/Athleticism – Green-Beckham’s speed and athleticism is as much his bread and butter as his size and physicality. It is his combination of both speed and power that make him so dangerous because you must respect his long speed, but if you give him the short out route or short crossing pattern, he can burn you all the same. Coming into college Green-Beckham was able to run a 4.4 40-yard dash and there is some thought that he could run a sub 4.4 40-yard dash at the combine. Green-Beckham also showed some prowess as a track and field athlete and you can see why as his long strides on the football field allow him to eat up yardage in a hurry. These long strides are similar to what allow players like Colin Kaepernick to be so dangerous in the open field. Additionally, you can look to how quickly Green-Beckham can shake his defenders on the quick passes to the outside as he make his initial move, catches the ball, then just runs across the field and turns it up for a big gain on a rather consistent basis.

Awareness/Body Control – As much as it may be hard to believe, this is one of Green-Beckham’s strongest traits. Green-Beckham has shown an incredible ability to adjust to the ball in the air both as he is running his route and as he is in the act of trying to complete a catch. His quarterback has to throw an awful throw for the ball to be truly uncatchable.

Routes – Besides the questions of his maturity, Green-Beckham’s route running may be his biggest issue at this point of his career, but that is common for many players coming out of college. Green-Beckham generally either went deep, or caught a quick slant or screen pass, all of which he was very effective with and showed an ability to score and create great yardage after the catch.

Player Comparison – If push comes to shove, when Green-Beckham eventually develops it will be hard not to put him in the upper echelon of wide receivers and see a Dez Bryant/Demaryius Thomas skill set and level of athleticism where he can beat you deep, beat you in the red zone, and take a screen to the house on any play. That said, it is important to remember he could end up never fully developing that repertoire and end up being similar to Cordarrelle Patterson this season where we continue to wait for him to develop as a receiver.

Final Say – I fully understand and appreciate the difficulties in analyzing a player who could be one or two mistakes from being out of the league. We have seen what has happened to Josh Gordon, but it is also important to remember there have been players such as Bryant who have overcome their difficulties. Generally, I am more likely to side with the talent and let everything else play itself out later. I am hoping to see Green-Beckham find his way onto a team where he can learn under a matured wide receiver and hone his skills into those a refined receiver. If he manages to do so, he could very easily be the steal of both the NFL Draft and your dynasty leagues this season.

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