Commanders, Eagles trade grades: Jahan Dotson shipped to Philadelphia as rival acquires former first-round WR

The Washington Commanders are moving on from one of their recent first-round picks. Washington will send wide receiver Jahan Dotson and a fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a third-round pick and two seventh-round picks. The Eagles confirmed the deal on Thursday morning.

The move comes a week after head coach Dan Quinn said publicly that several players — including Dotson — were battling for the No. 2 receiver job behind Terry McLaurin. That Dotson had not stood out, despite his draft pedigree, could have been construed as a sign that something like this was coming.

In two seasons with Washington, Dotson has posted receiving lines of 35 catches for 523 yards and seven touchdowns, and 49 catches for 517 yards and four touchdowns. His yards per reception and yards per game averages plummeted in Year 2, as did his target rate and yards per route run numbers, via Tru Media.

With Dotson out the door, Washington will presumably be relying on third-round pick Luke McCaffrey, Olamide Zaccheaus, and Dyami Brown for wide receiver snaps behind McLaurin. No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels also has tight ends Zach Ertz and rookie Ben Sinnott among his pass-catching group, along with Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler out of the backfield.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, gets to take a shot at tapping back into what made Dotson a first-round pick, and does so at a relatively low cost. The Eagles have been searching for a No. 3 receiver to complement A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith; they signed DeVante Parker earlier this offseason, only to see him retire before ever suiting up for them. Philadelphia has gotten minimal passing-game production from its wide receivers outside of Brown and Smith over the last few years, and acquiring Dotson could help fill that void.

Now let’s grade the trade …

Commanders: D-

There’s no way to frame this as anything other than a loss for Washington. Dotson was a first-round pick just two years ago and he played two underwhelming seasons for the team, but he also didn’t get an opportunity to play with a good quarterback during that time. To essentially get only a pick swap and a couple of seventh-rounders for him is a pretty big disappointment.

Eagles: B

That said, it’s not like the Eagles are really getting a sure thing to be their No. 3 wide receiver. Again, Dotson has not been all that productive in the NFL, even if he was good enough in college to be a mid-first-rounder. The cost to acquire him is so low, though, that the deal is a solid one even allowing for the possibility that he can’t fill a real role in the offense.