Breaking Down Dorial Green-Beckham vs Texas A & M: The Three Themes

Continuing our look at the 2015 Titans draft class, the spotlight turns to second round receiver Dorial Green-Beckham. Today we'll focus on his game against Texas A & M, where he finished with 7 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. After watching several of DGB's games, there were three themes that showed up consistently and there is an example or two of each of them in this matchup.

High Percentage Passes

Sometimes, coaches shouldn't overthink things. For as complicated a game as football is, there are times when you just want to get the ball in the hands of your best players. I found several examples of very simple routes designed to get the ball to Green-Beckham, with the idea being "just go make a play." You know that more often than not it'll give a positive result.

On this first example, the two receivers to DGB's right jump forward to block while he runs a screen route. There's nothing glorious about this play - its just simple pitch and catch. When he gets the ball though, he make something happen. He avoids the partially blocked DB first, then jukes left, leaving the linebacker behind him. Easy six yard gain.

Remember, you can show the controls on the video or pause it at any point.

That play was in the second quarter, but Missouri ran the same one in the middle of the third quarter too with a similar result. Poor #48 for A & M had a bad day.

This next play is a quick out route, something we see plenty of in the NFL. The footwork here pushed up against the sideline is impressive.

One negative that I've seen with DGB is that his technique can get sloppy and he'll let the ball into his body, and/or lose concentration. There was only one example of that in this game, and you can see it for yourself below. He runs a deep comeback and has an uncontested catch here that bounces off him.

Attacking the Ball

Another theme of Green-Beckham's play is his aggression towards catching passes. In tight situations, I think he shows the desired my ball attitude some of the great receivers possess. In the example below, the corner plays him tight to the line of scrimmage. DGB drags him backwards and prevents him from jumping inside of the route.  He makes the catch with the corner on his back.

The Deep Threat

This one is the money-maker. Green-Beckham is still a very raw prospect, and he'll have to really polish up the smaller details in his game to become a great receiver. He should still be able to have an impact early though if he can stretch the field like he did at Missouri.

On the play below, the corner starts him with a six yard cushion but still gets burned deep. Here's the usual camera view:

Unfortunately we lose DGB off screen while the play's happening live, but we get a better replay after. You can see how quickly DGB closes on the cornerback, who despite the cushion wasn't prepared for the race to the endzone. If you look closely you'll also see Green-Beckham push away from the corner a bit as well.

As I mentioned above, there are a few things DGB will have to work on. There wasn't a lot of route variability in his game. We saw the easy routes and the deep ones, but in between there wasn't much else. Granted he's good at what he does, so if he can continue to show the skillset we've already seen he should be a good first year receiver for Marcus Mariota.