I saw a report go by where Carson Wentz was talking up the pass-catching ability of Jahan Dotson, and it reminds me of just how good the rookie’s hands are. There was some talk back in April and May of Dotson being the odd man out of the half dozen receivers selected in the first round, but I never bought into that at all.
He’s a smaller guy; no getting around that. Dotson measured 5-foot-11 and 178 pounds at the combine. But he can play. He caught 91 passes for 1,182 yards and 12 TDs in his last season at Penn State – 22 TDs in his last 21 games there.
Ohio State was glad to see him heading for the pros, that’s for sure. He caught 19 passes for 271 yards and 3 TDs in his last two games against the Buckeyes.
I can’t guarantee that Dotson will take the league by storm. Washington is a lesser team, and it already has a pair of good receivers: Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel. But Dotson to me looks like he’s going to be a solid addition to the roster. He looks like a prospect who might develop into another Tyler Lockett. (Lockett’s about the same size and caught 81 and 106 passes his last two seasons at Kansas State.)
There were 20 wide receivers selected in the first four rounds of the draft, and in terms of simply catching the ball, Dotson has outperformed all of them. He dropped only 2 passes last year. The four receivers selected in front of him last year all dropped 5-8 passes while catching fewer balls.
| ROOKIE RECEIVERS; DROP RATES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tm | Rec | Drop | Pct |
| Jahan Dotson | Was. | 91 | 2 | 2.2% |
| Skyy Moore | K.C. | 95 | 4 | 4.0% |
| Tyquan Thornton | N.E. | 62 | 3 | 4.6% |
| Velus Jones | Chi. | 62 | 3 | 4.6% |
| Romeo Doubs | G.B. | 80 | 4 | 4.8% |
| David Bell | Cle. | 93 | 5 | 5.1% |
| Treylon Burks | Ten. | 66 | 4 | 5.7% |
| WanDale Robinson | NYG | 104 | 7 | 6.3% |
| Calvin Austin | Pitt. | 74 | 5 | 6.3% |
| G. Pickens (2020-21) | Pitt. | 41 | 3 | 6.8% |
| Jameson Williams | Det. | 79 | 6 | 7.1% |
| Chris Olave | N.O. | 65 | 5 | 7.1% |
| Alec Pierce | Ind. | 52 | 4 | 7.1% |
| John Metchie | Hou. | 96 | 8 | 7.7% |
| Erik Ezukanma | Mia. | 48 | 4 | 7.7% |
| Jalen Tolbert | Dall. | 82 | 7 | 7.9% |
| Garrett Wilson | NYJ | 70 | 6 | 7.9% |
| Drake London | Atl. | 88 | 8 | 8.3% |
| Christian Watson | G.B. | 43 | 5 | 10.4% |
| Danny Gray | S.F. | 49 | 7 | 12.5% |
He “catches the football as natural as anybody I’ve been around,” Wentz says.
“It’s more of a mindset thing,” said Dotson (as quoted by Ben Standig of TheAthletic.com). “I’m not the biggest guy. I don’t have insane measurables. … When the ball is up in the air, it’s mine. I said a while ago in college: When the ball is up in the air, I [see] it as a million dollars. I’m trying to go get that money. I love money, so I’m trying to get it.”
I’m not promising much from Dotson in 2022, but I wouldn’t hesitate to select him in a dynasty format.
—Ian Allan