NFL Nation

          Dorial Green-Beckham gets a taste of the Calvin Johnson rule

          NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Titans second-round wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham is up and down most practices, combining smooth catches that show off his size and athleticism with rookie mistakes and drops.

          The big learning moment in Wednesday’s practice came in the red zone. He beat 5-foot-10 cornerback Jemea Thomas to the back right corner of the end zone and leaped to make a nice catch of a Charlie Whitehurst pass. He landed and got his feet in bounds.

          But going to the ground is a process for the 6-foot-5 receiver, and he didn’t maintain control of the ball all the way. It would have been incomplete on the ground because of the Calvin Johnson, complete-the-catch rule.

          “Just control it, control it and catch all the way down,” Green-Beckham said when I asked about that play. “Pretty much just focus.”

          What’s he thinking when he sees Thomas across from him?

          “The ball should be coming my way,” he said. “Regardless of the mismatch. It’s really just my job to focus and control the contested catches.”

          I think what we’ve seen is reasonable to expect from Green-Beckham at this stage.

          And watching him beat up the blocking sled when the receivers work on their own early in practice is something to behold.

          A few other practice observations:

          • It was a run-heavy practice, so Marcus Mariota didn’t throw a lot. He finished 8-for-12 in seven-on-seven and full team periods and is now 57-for-85 over five days. He still has not thrown an interception. That is not because, for the record, he’s dinked and dunked or been conservative. It’s because he’s been precise.

          • Here is evidence of him running a huddle.

          • There was a lot of special teams work, mostly on small levels. Perrish Cox fielded a few punts.

          • The Titans ran three live plays with tackling late in practice, not with front line players. I thought the offense won all three, with running back David Cobb getting about 8 yards before a Zaviar Gooden tackle and fullback Connor Neighbors getting about 3 yards up the gut. Then, with defensive lineman Karl Klug as the fullback and Jalson Fowler as the running back, Fowler gained about 4 yards up the middle. Ken Whisenhunt said he wanted to test tired players late and liked what he saw though there were mistakes.

          • A quarterback drill that happened right in front of me:

          A video posted by pkuharsky (@pkuharsky) on