The big news on the final official day of Eagles Training Camp was the acquisition of wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, a talented second-year player from the Tennessee Titans.
After practice came to a close, head coach Doug Pederson addressed the assembled media at the NovaCare Complex, speaking about how the move impacts the team going forward.
"(He's a) big, tall, strong, physical receiver. He can make plays," Pederson said. "There's not a ton of current game film on him, so we had to dive back into his history a little bit to watch some of his games, and I really liked him. I'm really intrigued with him, obviously his size and speed, and I'm looking forward to getting him in here and getting him going.
"In the red zone, you go back and watch some tape and he's got a good vertical leap, he can elevate quickly and he can get over the top of defenders, which is sort of a comfort for the quarterback to just be able to put the ball in his area, but until we really get him in here and see what he can do physically, we'll wait until that point."
Green-Beckham caught 32 passes for 549 yards and four touchdowns during his rookie season. In order to bring him in, the Eagles sent veteran reserve lineman Dennis Kelly to Tennessee, and while they had to give up some of their offensive line depth, Pederson explained that increasing the competition at every position is always the goal.
"All along, my stance has always been about competition at every position. Obviously it goes back to the quarterback issue earlier in the spring, and this is no different. We're always constantly looking," Pederson said. "For us, we just have to continue to evaluate every position and when we can get players in here that can compete, we want to do that and we want to take advantage of these situations and this is one of those times."
The Eagles' wide receiver corps already had a new look to it in 2016. Rueben Randle, Chris Givens and T.J. Graham joined the young trio of Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor and Josh Huff. According to Coach Pederson, he's seen progress from the young group, but there's always room for improvement.
"Our receivers are learning every single day. They're working hard every day and I see improvements every single day," Pederson said. "From the game to our practice the other night at (Lincoln Financial Field) I saw a little bit of a faster tempo. I saw speed. I saw it today - receivers are making strides and really catching the football today. It's that process that takes time - the quarterback getting used to the receiver and the receiver getting used to the quarterback.
"Any time we can bring a player in at any position, whether it's an upgrade or not, we're going to take a look at that and make the best decisions for the Philadelphia Eagles."
Green-Beckham is expected to arrive in Philadelphia at some point on Tuesday and will travel with the team for their second preseason game at Pittsburgh. While Green-Beckham will be on the sideline on Thursday night, Pederson explained that he won't play until he's had time to dig into the playbook.
"I want him to go on the trip," Pederson said. "I want him to get involved with the players and get used to the team and the team getting used to him. I wanted to bring along for the trip, but we've got some work to do before we can reach that point."
