Titans coach Mike Mularkey told reporters Tuesday that the decision to trade second-year wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham to the Eagles was about need and was not about the team giving up on Green-Beckham 15 months after drafting him.
Mularkey said the Titans were comfortable with their wide receiver group and thought the best move for their roster was to make the trade for offensive lineman Dennis Kelly.
The talented but troubled Green-Beckham was kicked off the team at Missouri and spent his final college season at Oklahoma before entering the draft. The Titans selected Green-Beckham with pick No. 40 in the 2015 draft, and though he caught 32 passes as a rookie he’d been passed by 2016 fifth-round pick Tajae Sharpe and other veterans on the depth chart this summer.
Sharpe even got Green-Beckham’s locker Tuesday afternoon after the trade was finalized.
New Titans general manager Jon Robinson said the Eagles started the dialogue that led to the trade, and Mularkey said in the end the Titans hadn’t seen enough consistency from Green-Beckham to think he would reach his full potential.
“We had many conversations about [the consistency issue],” Mularkey said. “And it never did click.”
The Titans currently list Sharpe and Rishard Matthews as starters and Kendall Wright and Andre Johnson second on the depth chart. With experienced players in Harry Douglas and Justin Hunter in No. 3 roles and Johnson likely to take some snaps that might have gone to Green-Beckham, the Titans felt adding Kelly and his three seasons of experience was the right move.