Eagles' Green-Beckham starting to catch on

IT'S NOT like being tossed into a new NFL offense in the middle of August is hard, or anything.

"I just gotta erase those memories and put a whole new playbook in my head and try to pick up as fast as I can, to be able to help my team," wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham said Wednesday, when asked if he still sees the Tennessee Titans' plays in his head when he lines up to run routes with the Eagles.

Fans should get a more extensive look at Green-Beckham in the team's third preseason game, Saturday at Indianapolis. He got half a dozen snaps last Thursday at Pittsburgh, though he hadn't yet attended a practice, two days after the 40th overall pick in the 2015 draft was traded here for reserve offensive lineman Dennis Kelly.

Coaches want to see Green-Beckham with Sam Bradford and the first-team offense Saturday, in the last preseason action for that group, so they've limited Green-Beckham's playbook to the "X" position in Doug Pederson's offense, the wideout who lines up on the line of scrimmage.

"We put a couple plays in for him this week, expanded his role from a week ago. Full week of practice. He's comfortable with what we're doing with him," Pederson said. "Can't tell you how many, the number of snaps he'll get, but he'll definitely play and play with the first group.

"He's playing fast. That's what we ask him to do. He's being decisive with his routes. Obviously, he's such a big body (6-5, 230) that just covering guys up in the run game will be a big benefit for us, as well."

Pederson said he hopes to play the first-team offense into the third quarter, for at least a series or two.

As offensive coordinator Frank Reich noted this week, you notice Green-Beckham when the Eagles practice. He seems almost exactly the same size and build as rookie defensive end Alex McCalister, who is listed at 6-6, 239.

"He's an impressive physical specimen, obviously. It's funny . . . they're running routes on air, and sometimes as a coach, you stand across from the receivers that are running at you. And when he runs at you, his size and speed, it just kind of grabs you," Reich said.

"So, really excited about having him here. Just like anybody else though, it's a process. It's a process and we keep giving him little chunks at a time to allow him to play fast and use his ability."

The process is being closely monitored, because Green-Beckham has a combination of size and speed not otherwise present in the Eagles' wide receiver group, and because the Titans supposedly traded him because he didn't learn easily, didn't work hard enough to get better.

Such problems haven't been evident here yet, but of course, you wouldn't think they would be - a guy tends to put his best foot forward in the first weeks with a new team.

"I came in and I got right into the playbook. It shows at practice, that I've been studying my plays, knowing what I'm supposed to do, knowing where I'm supposed to line up, doing those little things right," Green-Beckham said.

There were insinuations that as a rookie last season, Green-Beckham couldn't get lined up correctly in the Titans' offense. Again, he's only practicing in one of the three main wide receiver spots so far with the Eagles, which makes that part a lot easier, but Green-Beckham isn't giving the impression of being a slow or unwilling learner.

"I'm a question guy," Green-Beckham said. "I like to ask questions first, to see, like, if I see a certain coverage . . . how I should run this route."

Green-Beckham said he is excited about Saturday's game.

"I feel like it's a great opportunity . . . a big opportunity for me to go out and show them why I'm here, what I came here to do," he said.

He has sensed that fans are excited, as well (especially now that they don't have Carson Wentz to watch in preseason games).

"They look forward to seeing how I can fit into this offense," Green-Beckham said. "It's a great atmosphere . . . I just want to go out there and just impress everybody and show why I'm here."

Wideout Rueben Randle said Green-Beckham has already had dominant moments.

"He's going to be a threat, definitely, down the red zone. He's a big-body guy, to go up and snatch the ball and box some guys out. I think we look forward to him doing those things, like, today (in practice), I think he scored, like, four times down in the red zone," Randle said.

Last week, Green-Beckham seemed a little puzzled by and disoriented from the unexpected trade. This week, he seems to think he has landed in a good spot.

"The whole team accepts me . . . they've treated me like a brother," he said. "I feel this is more like a family atmosphere, and we all have each other's backs."

@LesBowen

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