NFL Analysis
8/23/24
6 min read
Eagles Trade for WR Jahan Dotson: What It Means for Both Teams
As NFL rosters must drop from 90 to 53 by Tuesday, player movement is about to increase. Players who aren't likely to make the team but could still have value elsewhere could be traded in the next few days.
The Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles got a head start by swapping WR Jahan Dotson and a fifth-round pick for a third-round pick and two seventh-round picks. That puts the total value of the draft picks exchanged somewhere around a late-fourth-round pick.
This isn't a massive blockbuster trade, but it does give insight into how these two divisional rivals view themselves and the outlook of their rosters.
For the Eagles 
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has never shied away from acquiring a high pick who has fallen out of favor with his former team. What the Eagles are really buying is the big discount in hoping Dotson can show what made him the 16th overall pick in 2022.
With two years remaining on his rookie contract, Dotson will cost the Eagles just $4.33 million during the next two seasons. His cap hit this season will be less than Ja'Lynn Polk's, a second-round pick of the New England Patriots this year. Philadelphia will have two fewer years of team control than a 2024 rookie contract (one fewer if including the more expensive fifth-year option), but it's genuinely a low-cost bet on the talent.
This is less than has been traded for other highly-drafted receivers on their rookie deals, including Kadarius Toney, Elijah Moore, and Chase Claypool.
The Eagles won't need Dotson to be a star for this move to have value. He just needs to be an upgrade for the third wide receiver spot, which Quez Watkins held during the past few seasons. This season, it was to be some combination of Parris Campbell and rookie sixth-round pick Johnny Wilson.
Finding a third receiver matters but is a supplementary position in Philadelphia's offense. No team has concentrated a higher target share on its top three targets — in this case, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert — than the Eagles during the past two seasons.
There's a lower bar for involvement for Dotson, and the hope is that he can play more to his strengths as a receiver. Dotson had a promising rookie year but failed to build on that in his second season, as he spent more time in the slot and around the line of scrimmage.
If the Eagles use him more as an outside receiver who can catch deeper passes, that could be a better fit for him and the offense. Dotson can play inside and outside, allowing the Eagles to move their three receivers around. DeVonta Smith has averaged 1.88 yards per route run outside and 2.48 from the slot in his career while he's lined up outside for 79 percent of his routes.
Moving around the receivers more, on top of the motion that should be added with Kellen Moore as the offensive coordinator, should benefit the entire offense.
At his best, Dotson has plus body control that can be used all over the field, whether adjusting to balls down the sideline or working his way through the middle of the field.
Jahan Dotson, man pic.twitter.com/B85V7P1ggX
— Dan Pizzuta (@DanPizzuta) June 6, 2023
In 2022, Dotson had 10 catches of 20 or more yards on just 35 receptions. He only had two more targets of 11 or more air yards in 2023, when he ran 634 routes, than in 2022, when he ran 376.
If Dotson's big-play ability shows up in the Eagles' offense, it would give him an advantage as the team's third receiver and give the Eagles a good return on their investment.
In a best-case scenario, Dotson delivers on his first-round pedigree at a meager price. That gives Philadelphia another weapon to the passing game that stresses opposing defenses at every spot.
For the Commanders
In Washington, Dotson fit each new offense brought in less and less. He was better in the Scott Turner offense and pigeon-holed into that slot-heavy role near the line of scrimmage in 2023. Dotson wasn't making much progress in Kliff Kingsbury's offense and was getting passed on the depth chart.
This current Washington regime did not draft Dotson and had no allegiance in trying to make him work if that came at the expense of getting players who fit the offense better. Getting a third (but including a fifth) can be framed as a win for a player who would not factor heavily into the 2024 plans, if at all.
Washington's receiving corps doesn't look great on paper, but that doesn't change much if Dotson was there and either not playing well or often. Terry McLaurin remains a tremendous wide receiver who has battled through and still produced in years of poor quarterback play.
Behind him is where Washington will have to figure out the rotation.
In 11 personnel sets, it looks like 2021 third-round pick Dyami Brown will be the second outside receiver. Brown might be the opposite case of Dotson, a receiver who fits the current offense better than the previous versions.
Brown was a fun vertical threat in college but could not get on the field or make much of an impact through his first three years, but he's impressed in camp. Of Jayden Daniels' 15 throws in the preseason, four have gone to McLaurin, and four have gone to Brown, including the long throw down the sideline in the preseason opener.
If Kingsbury's offense continues to use pace as its calling card, which limits the use of motion and moving receivers around, Brown could fit well in that right outside receiver role.
Olamadie Zaccheus and rookie Luke McCaffrey could split slot work. The Commanders could also work in more 12 personnel, which Kingsbury used out of necessity in Arizona.
Washington has Zach Ertz, John Bates (who caught a 16-yard pass up the seam from Daniels against Miami), and rookie second-round pick Ben Sinnott as tight end options who could provide more than a third receiver.
Washington is figuring out what this offense should look like and who best fits in it. It's not ideal to trade away a former first-round pick, but making a move instead of forcing a fit should work out for the best in the long run, even if the cupboard feels a bit bare now.
