How does WR Jahan Dotson fit in the Washington Commanders offense?
Breaking down how the Commanders new receiver fits within their system.
Earlier this morning I broke down Jahan Dotson’s skill set to see what the Washington Commanders are getting in their first-round pick. That post focused on his traits, looking at his strengths and weaknesses coming into the NFL. But something I didn’t fully touch on was his fit within the Commanders offense. So in this post, I’m going to take a closer look at how he fits with the Commanders and the different roles he can play within this system.
Now obviously, his primary attribute is his ability to stretch the field as a deep threat. The Commanders will absolutely lean on that, allowing him to line up as the Z receiver and run go routes down the sideline or deep posts in the middle of the field. But those are the basics of what a deep threat can bring to the offense. So how can the Commanders build off that vertical threat? Well, after sending Dotson deep a few times, corners will be cautious of the deep threat and start to play for that, which can open things up underneath.
Here against Michigan, Dotson aligns to the right of the formation against a corner playing off coverage. A lot of vertical receivers will have routes designed to change based on the coverage of the defender. This play may well have been drawn up for Dotson to run a go route down the sideline, but with the corner playing off and soft, the route can convert to a hitch. This play could have just been called as it was run, but in the NFL, that type of route adjustment to coverage happens regularly. Either way, Dotson comes off the snap at full speed, doing his best to sell a vertical threat. The corner starts to sink deeper and open his hips inside to prepare for Dotson running deep. That's when Dotson knows he has the leverage advantage and he breaks off the route sharply, creating five yards of separation for any easy completion.
Converting routes based on coverage is common practice in the NFL and something Dotson will no doubt be asked to do in Washington. He’s a prime candidate for it because of his deep threat ability that will create so much space for him underneath. But the key for him will be to continue to be able to sell the deep threat regardless of the coverage he faces. We saw him sell it there against off coverage, but what about if a defender rolls up in press coverage?
This is a very similar style of route to the last play in that it’s a curl route that works off a vertical threat before breaking back towards the quarterback. But how he runs the route changes based on the coverage. With the defender up at the line in press coverage, Dotson changes his strategy. Instead of running full speed off the snap, he takes a slower, more measured release. He takes a hop step to gather himself and get the defender to open his hips before then bursting outside. He widens his route towards the numbers, which helps him sell the threat of running deep. Dotson convinces the corner he’s running deep and then suddenly breaks off his route, leaving the corner to continue running by him and creating plenty of separation.
Curls, hitches and comebacks are all common routes for receivers to use to work off their vertical threat. Expect Dotson to be no different and when the Commanders align him outside, he’ll run plenty of fades and post routes to threaten deep and then work off that with the curls, hitches and comeback routes to make use of the space created underneath.
With Dotson’s deep threat, the Commanders will likely use him to create space underneath for others. They run a number of concepts that involve a receiver running a deep post or go route to clear out the deep coverage and vacate space behind them. Dotson is perfectly capable of this.
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