Jahan Dotson is moving faster within the Eagles’ offense now, not necessarily with his feet, but with his mind.
Late last summer, the Eagles swung the trade for the receiver with Washington, but with little time left before the start of the season, “I was kind of thrown right into the fire from Day 1,” Dotson said Saturday in training camp. “It was kind of like ‘Alright, go out here and plug and play.'”
But things are different this time around, and he believes, as a player, he is, too.
The benefit of a full offseason to learn the Eagles’ playbook helped a lot.
“Understanding what you’re doing, and that just enables you to play that much faster,” Dotson told the local media at the NovaCare Complex. “So being that I got an entire offseason here, OTAs, training camp, and learning the playbook day by day, that process slows down a little bit, but it enables you to play even faster on the field.
Developing a general comfort for how the team operates on the field and in the building did, too.
“Not worrying about what split I’m in, what I’m doing,” Dotson continued. “Knowing exactly where I’m supposed to be, when I’m supposed to be there, and making plays.”
And so did a good chunk of time and a trip to Houston to really start building a stronger chemistry with Jalen Hurts.
“I was with him down in Houston for a couple of weeks,” Dotson explained. “We were working out, having throwing sessions about every week, so that was good to build the trust and the connection.”
In the hopes of establishing a role that can have a much greater impact on an offense already full of names who can leave major ones.
Dotson, a former first-round draft pick out of Penn State from 2022, was brought in to be the Eagles’ third receiver last year behind the star duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
It was always expected that he would see the ball less between those two, leading tight end Dallas Goedert, and a fearsome rushing attack starring Saquon Barkley, but even so, his performance and numbers underwhelmed.
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Jahan Dotson runs after the catch during the Eagles’ preseason game against the Bengals on Thursday night.
Dotson was only targeted 33 times during the 2024 regular season, catching 19 of them for just 216 yards and no touchdowns, and with a third of those targets (11) and seven of those receptions coming from that last Week 18 againt the Giants when Tanner McKee was throwing him the ball.
It was a struggle for him to get directly involved in the Eagles’ passing game, although glimmers started emerging in the playoffs, first when he caught the opening touchdown from Hurts in the Wild Card game against Green Bay, and then in the Super Bowl when he hauled in a 27-yard pass down the right sideline that set up a “Tush Push” score at the 1, along with two more receptions after for a 42-yard total in the championship thrashing of Kansas City.
But it took a long time to even get to that, and a sobering realization during that early-season blowout loss to Tampa before it to understand how much work needed to go into establishing a confident trust with his quarterback.
“He wants to succeed,” Dotson said of Hurts. “He doesn’t want a dropoff. I feel like going back to last year when we played Tampa Bay, Smitty and A.J. were out, and it was kind of me out of there.
“We didn’t have that connection. It was, I think two weeks, three weeks that I’d been throwing with him, so just when those opportunities come, whether someone’s not practicing or someone’s not playing, feeling like there’s no dropoff so that he’s comfortable with me and I’m comfortable with him.”
And for Dotson, he said a full year made a “night and day” difference in being ready for that, down to where he’s supposed to be once the ball has to come out and when, and regardless of what read he is for Hurts.
“I’m gonna be at every position,” Dotson said. “So whether I am the first read or the fourth read, knowing that timing whether he’s working the front side or he’s working his footwork to get all the way back side on a route, knowing where I’m supposed to be and when I’m supposed to be there, it’s huge.
“It’s huge for the quarterback, and it’s huge for me, just knowing how much time I have to win my route and building that over time is big.”
And could be bigger for the Eagles’ offense if it means even one more threat that opposing defenses have to worry about.
The early signs that Dotson could be more involved this coming season are already there.
He lined up outside as Tanner McKee’s No. 1 receiver to start Thursday night’s preseason opener against Cincinnati, and then took up the other outside spot with the first team opposite Smith in Saturday’s practice since Brown was listed out for the session with a hamstring issue.
So in the event that someone is out, or the gameplan changes, Dotson is readying up to ensure that there is no dropoff.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
