Advertisement

Dorial Green-Beckham says he's more mature, but is 10 months enough time to change?

Dorial Green-Beckham stood in front of media at the NFL scouting combine on Thursday asking for forgiveness.

The much-maligned receiver who spent as much time in trouble with the law as he did catching touchdowns didn’t exactly apologize for his mistakes, but was hoping the NFL could look past them.

All the decisions I made, I wish I could take it back,” Green-Beckham said. “It happened, I was young, I made mistakes, I understand that. I just want to focus on one thing, and look forward to just this draft and focus on being the best I can be.”

But is it that easy?

It’s been less than a year since Green-Beckham, one of the most dynamic receivers in the country, was dismissed from Missouri for allegedly pushing a woman down some stairs after breaking into her apartment while looking for his girlfriend. It was the third run-in with the law Green-Beckham had during two seasons in Columbia, and coach Gary Pinkel had drawn the line.

Green-Beckham was never arrested for the allegation. The woman involved feared retaliation if she came forward and Green-Beckham’s girlfriend at the time sent her several text messages asking her not to talk to police because it would ruin Green-Beckham’s football career.

During his previous two arrests, both for marijuana possession, Green-Beckham walked away with no consequence on one and a misdemeanor trespassing charge on the other.

He transferred to Oklahoma and the only real punishment he ever suffered was that he couldn’t play in 2014 because the NCAA wouldn’t give him a hardship waiver despite Oklahoma’s attempts to say Missouri ran him off and that he deserved another chance.

So here was, one of the most impressive specimens of a deep wide receiver class, saying that he was a changed man, but noting that the only thing that caused this self-reflection was spending a year on the sideline of one of the perennial powers in college football.

“I proved I’m a better person by just showing them how mature I’ve grown,” Green-Beckham said. “These last few months have been real tough for me. Missing the whole season and missing playing with my teammates and just missing football, period. Just looking from the outside in and seeing things that I’ve never seen before, I just want to take advantage of that and just make sure that I’m there to help my teammates and make sure I’m the best guy I can be off the field and try to show everybody I’m capable of doing those things.”

It’s easy to walk the straight and narrow when the spotlight is off and the fanfare has faded. It helped that Green-Beckham was in Norman and away from a school that wasn’t too long a drive back to his hometown. Green-Beckham’s upbringing has been well documented. He was one of six kids born to a woman who had her own issues with the law. He never knew his father, spent time living in a van and watched several of his half-siblings squander their athletic talent on drugs and in jail.

He was adopted by his high school coach and turned into the top recruit in his class. He stayed home to play at his state school, which was a huge coup for the Tigers. In two seasons, he caught 87 passes for 1,278 yards and 17 touchdowns and was well on his way to being one of the best receivers in the country.

I’m disappointed in myself for the mistakes I did at Missouri, I wish I could have finished out there, been a home guy, stayed at Missouri," Green-Beckham said. "I regret all the mistakes I’ve done. I still respect Missouri and still respect everyone at Missouri, all the players and all the coaches.”

No one has ever argued with Green-Beckham’s talent, but his off-field decision-making has been suspect. In the NFL, the spotlight will be back on, the bad elements will creep out of the shadows and Green-Beckham will now have millions of dollars at his disposal.

It’s up to an NFL team to decide whether Green-Beckham is sincere and whether he can be a model citizen. Green-Beckham said several times that he was young and immature when he made his mistakes, but it’s important to note that Green-Beckham isn’t even a full year older from the time he was dismissed until his time on the combine podium.

Is 10 months enough time to provide perspective for someone whose entire past has been wrought with bad decisions either by himself or someone close to him?

That’s a decision with which NFL execs will have to wrestle.

- - - - - - -

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

And don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook