Dorial Green-Beckham: From highest-rated WR recruit ever to now
ST. LOUIS (BVM) – Dorial Green-Beckham is the highest-rated high school wide receiver of all-time. He graduated in the Class of 2012 with a near-perfect scouting grade of .9998 out of 1.0000 (247 Sports) – placing him among the list of the highest-rated high school football players of all-time, too.
Green-Beckham is now 29 years old and he hasn’t changed the game of football as initially predicted. So, what happened to DGB that turned him into a surprising NFL bust, and where is Green-Beckham now?
Dorial Green-Beckham in high school
It’s rare for a WR to be ranked among the highest-rated high school football players of all time, but Green-Beckham stood out as an 18-year-old, 6-foot-6, 237-pound WR with enough size and build to be a professional.
Green-Beckham played for Hillcrest High School (Missouri) where he would go on to set school records and become the nation’s all-time high school receiving yards leader. He gained a lot of recognition following his sophomore season, where he posted 66 catches for 1,616 yards and 23 touchdowns. As a junior, he had 1,700 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.
As a senior, Green-Beckham made 119 catches for 2,233 yards and 24 touchdowns. By this time, he could supposedly run a speedy 4.40 in the 40-yard dash. He received the Ken Hall Trophy (comparable to the Heisman Trophy for collegiate football players) to top off his high school career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNvGXeQoOHU
DGB had offers from every major program in the country, including Alabama, USC, Texas and Oklahoma. The No. 1 football player in the country ultimately chose to stay home and play for Missouri.
Dorial Green-Beckham in college and the NFL
Green-Beckham may have had a short career with the Tigers, but he’s still the highest-ranked recruit in Missouri football history.
As a freshman (2012), he played in 11 games and made 28 catches for 395 yards and 5 touchdowns. For what would be his last season with the Tigers (2013), DGB played 14 games and made 59 catches for 883 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Missouri dismissed Green-Beckham before his junior season due to his troubling off-the-field behavior in 2014 – which included arrests involving marijuana possession and also for pushing a woman down the stairs. DGB later said in a statement that he was entering counseling so that he could do better.
Green-Beckham was able to transfer to Oklahoma for his junior season, but he had to sit out the entire year due to NCAA transfer rules at the time in 2014. So, in early 2015, he declared for the NFL Draft.
Green-Beckham was picked No. 40 overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2015 NFL Draft. Although this may have seemed underwhelming to those who rooted for the No. 1 player back in high school, DGB was still in a good spot considering that he went the previous year not playing a single snap of football while at Oklahoma.
As a rookie with the Titans, Green-Beckham played in 16 games and made 32 catches for 549 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for the 2016 season – where he failed to impress in 15 games, catching 36 passes for only 392 yards and two touchdowns. He was cut from the team and that was the last time DGB ever played in the NFL.
Where is Dorial Green-Beckham now?
Today, Green-Beckham seems to have changed his life to avoid run-ins with the law. After he left the NFL, DGB plead guilty to a DWI charge and was given probation (2017), charged with possession of marijuana and resisting arrest after jumping out of a window to avoid police (2018) and was sentenced to jail twice for violating probation (2019, 2021).
Now, things are relatively quiet with DGB. He has only posted on Twitter twice since 2020. His bio reads, “Proud father with big dreams and plans to take care of my family and loved ones.”
Comments under his Instagram show fans hoping for a comeback from the former No. 1 high school player. Although Green-Beckham hasn’t retired on the record yet, the chances of a comeback are slim considering that he hasn’t been involved as a player or even a coach in recent years.
Notably, Green-Beckham grew up in a hard life since his parents couldn’t take care of him. So, he was adopted by his Hillcrest football coach, John Beckham, and his wife in 2009 as a high schooler. Unfortunately, this isn’t a case like“The Blind Side” since Green-Beckham was out of the NFL by the time he was only 23 years old.
Although many after the NFL went on to capitalize on their name through businesses and public appearances – Green-Beckham has appeared to not do so. However, Celebrity Net Worth reports that he’s still worth $4 million.
Overall, the highest-rated high school wide receiver of all time didn’t amount to the hype, so Green-Beckham remains as another cautionary tale for young athletes.