What WR Jahan Dotson brings to the Washington Commanders
Taking a closer look at the skill set of the Commanders first-round pick
The Washington Commanders drafted Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson in the first-round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. The Commanders saw receiver Drake London drafted a few picks before them by the Falcons, and then Garrett Wilson drafted by the Jets at 10. So, they responded with a smart decision to trade back from the 11th pick and restock on draft picks after losing picks in the Carson Wentz trade. They traded back with the Saints, falling back to the 16th pick and adding a third and fourth-round pick in return. The Saints then drafted Chris Olave, a reported target for Washington and the Lions then traded for the 12th pick to take Jameson Williams.
That left Washington at 16 with the last receiver it had with a first-round grade in Dotson. Dotson is slightly smaller than the other receivers taken in the first, measuring at 5-foot-11, 178 pounds. With that slighter frame, he’s not the big-bodied possession receiver some were looking for, but he does fit a similar profile to Chris Olave as a deep threat that can play both the Z receiver and slot receiver positions.
When watching Dotson, his speed does stand out. He routinely ran deeper routes and burned corners while doing so.
Here’s two plays from Dotson’s game against Wisconsin this past season. On the first play of the clip, Dotson aligns way outside the numbers almost on the sideline. This helps isolate him against the corner on the outside. Dotson works at a controlled pace while selling a go route down the sideline. Once he gets the corner to commit to the go route by opening his hips to the sideline, Dotson cuts inside and turns on the jets. He flys by the corner but is unfortunately overthrown. On the second play of the clip, Dotson aligns inside the numbers and faces press coverage. Off the snap, he takes a hop step to gather himself while selling a jab to an outside release. The corner opens his hips outside in response and Dotson takes his free release inside as he bursts by the corner. Once again Dotson runs away from the coverage but the quarterback misses the throw.
Now Dotson isn’t only a speedster. He’s a nice route runner that understands how he can use his speed and vertical threat to set up other routes and create separation underneath.
On this play, Dotson aligns outside the numbers but then motions in towards the hash marks. As the ball is snapped, the corner in coverage is playing with heavy outside leverage thanks to the motion. That makes things hard for Dotson, who wants to run an out route but is working against a corner with leverage advantage. He knows he has to take away that leverage advantage somehow, so Dotson starts his route by widening his angle and forcing the corner to widen with him. Receivers typically do this when they want to create space inside for a post route. Dotson eats up the cushion between himself and the corner quickly and that makes the corner panic into a mistake. The corner knows the angle suggests Dotson is creating space to work inside, so he hurriedly opens his hips inside to be able to turn and run with Dotson. That gives Dotson the leverage advantage as he breaks off his route to the sideline whilst the corner is forced to do a full speed turn.
Dotson has a few different tricks up his sleeve when it comes to route running too.
This time, Dotson aligns to the left of the formation just inside the numbers and runs a dig route. His corner is playing with inside leverage this time, which should give the defender an advantage when covering a dig route. However, Dotson gets rid of that leverage advantage with his route running. He releases inside and then works vertically. Just as he gets on the toes of the defender, he uses a nice dead leg move to sell a break outside or possibly a fade route. That gets the corner to open his hips to the sidelines and allows Dotson free access to cut back inside and over the middle.
On top of his deep threat and route running, Dotson has good hands. Many draft analysts have said he has the safest hands in this draft class and his catching ability does stand out when watching him.
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