Subscribe
Follow Us
While much has been written about the pre-existing relationship between new addition Jahan Dotson and Saquon Barkley, as the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive weapons both call Penn State their collegiate alma mater, did you know the 16th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft actually has a relationship with AJ Brown too?
It's true, discussing his relationship with the player Philly acquired with the 18th overall pick in that very same draft during his introductory presser – a fact that is still hard to believe – Dotson revealed his connection to WR11 and how they plan to push each other heading into the future.
“Yeah we built a little bit of a relationship, being that we were working out together in the offseason. It was pretty much just competing with each other, you know, putting in the grind,” Jahan Dotson told reporters. “He's a fellow receiver, so, you know, as much as I can learn from him, as much as he can learn from me, it's great being that you have someone like that. They get to push you every day in the offseason to try to get better and get to your goal.”
Asked if he's been able to work with any of the Eagles' offensive weapons since arriving in South Philadelphia, the pride of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Dotson said no, but that will inevitably change in the n0t-too-distant future.
“Not too much just because I just got here and I'm just kind of getting used to everything, and kind of getting introduced to the playbook a little bit,” Dotson noted. “I've been having conversations with those guys about everything that's going on and what they have going on here, so I know I'll fit right in. I'm just kind of stepping in and kind of getting to work on this playbook and trying to get to learn everything.”
With a little under two weeks left before the start of the 2024 NFL regular season, Dotson will have plenty of opportunities to get comfortable working alongside Barkley, Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Jalen Hurts before the live bullets start to fly in Brazil next Friday. Whether they can immediately catch fire and become one of the hottest offenses in the NFL right out of the gate, however, will go a long way in defining how the Eagles start out the 2024 NFL season.
Nick Sirianni has high hopes for Jahan Dotson
Briefly touching on the addition of Dotson after the Eagles' ugly loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the Preseason finale, head coach Nick Sirianni recalled the PSU product's evaluation coming out of college and how he should improve Philly's receivers room heading into the regular season.
“Really liked him a couple years ago coming out,” Sirianni noted. “Looking forward to working with him. I think he helps our team and gives us an addition to an already deep room, and excited to work with him. But, yeah, we're just really excited that we are able to make our team better.”
So, with Dotson in place, how does this impact the Eagles' roster construction plans heading into the future? Will they keep fewer wide receivers now that they have a guaranteed top-3 in Dotson, Brown, and Smith? Or are those decisions unrelated? While Sirianni doesn't pick who stays and who goes on the 53-man roster, he did note that this could impact the bottom of the roster, as those final few spots come down to more than just immediate offensive or defensive potential.
“Obviously we've got a lot of tape to watch, that we watch, that we have to rewatch. And again, a deep room, it's a deep room, and Jahan just adds to the depth of that room,” Sirianni explained.
“Just like the linebacker position, just like the receiver position. We've got a lot of tough decisions to make. You'd rather have tough decisions to make. That means you have good depth, that you're comfortable, like, ‘Oh, man, I'd be really excited if this guy's on the team, really excited if this guy's on the team.'
“That's where [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and his staff have done such a good job of getting the talent here, so we have these conversations of, ‘All right, who is No. 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, like who is the in-between for the five and six receivers or the four and five linebackers.' So, again, it makes for hard decisions, but you know that's only helping your team when you're having those types of discussions.”
Could the presence of Dotson not just in 2024 but in 2025 – and potentially 2026, too, if his fifth-year option gets picked up – cost someone like Parris Campbell a spot on the roster or even the practice squad this fall? Potentially so; with no clear path to play, Campbell may simply opt to take his talents elsewhere, opening the door for players like John Ross and Joeseph Ngata to stick around on the practice squad. Still, it's borderline impossible to call the Eagles a worse team because they upgraded the WR3 spot from Campbell – or even DeVante Parker, for that matter – to Dotson, as he is arguably the best WR3 Philly has employed under the Sirianni regime.
