There’s no question the Philadelphia Eagles offense is struggling in the absence of star receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
But the team supposedly braced for times like these with the trade of former first-round wideout Jahan Dotson from the Washington Commanders before the season.
Except, Dotson has been a minimal part of the offense. He had just two catches on four targets for 11 yards in Philly’s 33-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, leaving head coach Nick Sirianni to answer the question: why hasn’t Dotson been more involved in the offensive game plan?
“It's hard to force-feed someone the football,” Sirianni told reporters. “As an offensive coach, you always want to be on the attack. There's being on the attack and there's taking what the defense gives you. The ball went to him when it was supposed to go to him.”
Sure, not force-feeding a player makes perfect sense, except for when a team is down its top two pass-catchers, and its quarterback is struggling to push the ball down the field and won’t throw to that team’s No. 3 option.
Through four games, Dotson has been targeted only nine times, logging four catches for 25 yards. Tight end Dallas Goedert notwithstanding, the Eagles’ next leading receiver with Brown and Smith out of the equation is running back Saquon Barkley.
After Barkley, Philly’s backup tight end and two more receivers have more yards than Dotson does — and all have fewer targets, too.
“There were some times when the ball could have went to [Dotson], where something might have happened that took that away,” Sirianni added. “Sometimes you're the product of how the defense has played as a wide receiver. It's a little different at wide receiver of how the ball gets itself to you. The ball didn't find him as much (Sunday) and it hasn't these first couple weeks.”
