Murphy: Eagles' Dorial Green-Beckham wore out welcome with Titans

One of the important things to note about the Eagles' acquisition of Dorial Green-Beckham is that they acquired him from one of the few teams that might actually have been in worse shape at the position heading into training camp.

Green-Beckham led the team's wide receivers with 549 yards last year, and his 32 catches were four fewer than Kendall Wright and Harry Douglas, who tied for the team lead. The Titans were so desperate for help they signed Andre Johnson, who was coming off an abysmal season with the Colts in which he appeared to be running on a couple of flat tires.

So why would the Titans get rid of the guy who represented their only upside at the position? The headlines coming out of Nashville provide a pretty good clue. There have been questions about his work ethic, his conditioning, his mental lapses. When Tennessee released its official depth chart, Beckham was listed near the bottom.

Earlier this month, Mike Mularkey summed it up thusly, per the Tennessean:

"It's bad day, good day. Same thing it's been since the very first day."

What does Green-Beckham have to do to break out of that cycle?

"That's spending extra time. That's doing things when nobody's watching. That's in the classroom. I think it's just putting the work in without being directed by anybody, doing it yourself. ... He does do it. I'd do it more."

There doesn't appear to be much risk here for the Eagles. Kelly didn't bring much to the table, and there's a chance the Eagles would have cut him loose anyway to keep one of the younger offensive linemen in camp who has more upside. So even if DGB quickly wears out his welcome, the Eagles didn't really lose anything.

It's fair to wonder how quickly a player with Green-Beckham's reputation will be able to pick up a new offense in a new situation. After all, it sounds as if he was still struggling to do so after more than a year with his old team. At the same time, his physical toolset is unquestioned. There's a reason the Titans made him the 40th player drafted last spring.

The takeaway: You probably shouldn't pencil Green-Beckham into a prominent spot on the depth chart just yet. The Eagles might be thinking that his upside warrants some patience throughout the season. Clearly, the Titans' patience was up.