Eagles' WR Feels Like 'A Completely Different Player'

PHILADELPHIA - For one day and nine reps, fourth-year pro Jahan Dotson was the Eagles’ WR1.

Typically, the WR3 for Philadelphia, A.J. Brown, was down with a hamstring injury, and the Eagles were going to play it cautious with DeVonta Smith, so Dotson was option No. 1 in the passing game for backup quarterback Tanner McKee in the Eagles’ preseason-opening win over Cincinnati.

It was only for one drive before Dotson took a seat as one of only two offensive starters to play, and it was a successful one with the Penn State product handling McKee’s only two throws in what was a touchdown scoring drive.

“Jahan obviously did a really good job, head coach Nick Sirianni said. “We wanted to get him a couple of touches and let him go to work as the number one receiver.”

Dotson delivered, the same as he did late last season after he started to develop chemistry with Jalen Hurts after arriving as an August trade pickup.

"Night and day,” Dotson said of his connection with Hurts this summer after the two had an entire offseason even working out in Houston together away from the NovaCare Complex. “Last year coming in when I did, it's really hard to simulate that timing on the field. I was kinda thrown right into the fire from Day 1.”

The idea of plug and play isn’t necessarily common when timing is part of the equation.

“As a quarterback, you don't know when a guy is gonna be there,” Dotson explained. “You don't know his speed, you can't judge that of plugging and playing. Those reps I've had with him during the offseason, whether here or wherever. It's enabled him to know where I'm gonna be on certain routes.

“It's built our trust."

The trust was cemented in South Texas.

“I can talk through things with him,” said Dotson. “Talk through certain routes with him. I can understand where he wants me to be. Sometimes it's not the same for every quarterback. Understanding what he's looking at and where he wants me to be on the field at certain points, it's translating here. I felt like it paid off, for sure. It was good to get out there in Houston.”

Entering a contract year, Dotson is in a position to prove he can still be a WR1 or WR2, if not in Philadelphia, somewhere else.

The work is the foundation of that.

“It's just the involvement as a player. The progress that you continue to have to the work you put in,” Dotson said. ”I feel like from 365 days ago until now, I'm a completely different player because of the work I've put in and the things I've learned. Those have enabled me to enhance my game. I'm a completely different player from last year. I'm looking to showcase that."

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