Jahan Dotson trade: A move Eagles GM Roseman had to make

On my latest projected 2024 Eagles roster, under wide receivers, it says, “A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Britain Covey, Johnny Wilson, someone who's not here yet.”

The more we watched training camp, the more it became obvious the Eagles just didn’t have enough behind Brown and Smith.

Parris Campbell and John Ross were fun stories, both former high draft picks trying to resurrect their careers, Campbell after a miserable season with the Giants in 2023, Ross after sitting out the last two years.

They’re both good guys trying to overcome adversity, and that made them easy to root for. 

But the days went by and there was a play here and a play there, but neither one took ownership of that WR3 spot. Campbell missed two weeks of practice with an injury and never really got going. And Ross was just starting to come on a little when he suffered a concussion in the preseason game against the Patriots, and he hasn’t practiced since. 

Covey has had a nice camp and catches the ball well out of the slot, but he’s also limited to one position and also limited by his 5-8, 175-pound frame. He’s going to give you all he has, but you have to think in terms of the worst possible scenario — if one of the starters gets hurt, who takes his place? Covey isn’t the answer.

Wilson got off to a hot start in camp before tailing off and then suffering a concussion a week ago, and while he’s had some promising moments, relying on a rookie 6^th-round pick who's still finding his way as your WR3 also isn’t ideal. Ainias Smith has bounced back after a terrible start, but he’s nowhere close to being ready.

We knew this was a problem back in July when Nick Sirianni was asked about the third receiver and he said the role could be filled by a number of different people depending on the opponent, the down and distance and the situation. When the first guy he mentioned as a candidate was Grant Calcaterra — a backup tight end with nine career catches — yeah, it was apparent back then the Eagles knew they didn’t have enough.

When you have a bunch of third receivers, you don’t have any third receivers.

The Eagles could have gone into 2024 with what they had and been a top-10 offense. When you’ve got Brown, Smith, Dallas Goedert, Saquon Barkley, Kenny Gainwell, Jalen Hurts and a top offensive line, you’re going to score a lot of points.

But this is what you really admire about Howie Roseman.

Having enough isn’t enough. 

He’s always going to make that one extra move and if that means trading assets, he’ll always do it. Because he’s so good at accumulating assets with trades, he’s always got the ammo to get the deal done.

Brown. Darius Slay. Jay Ajayi. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (the first time). All trades. 

Now add Jahan Dotson to that list.

Fifteen days before the opener vs. the Packers, Roseman shipped a 3^rd-round pick in 2025 and a couple 7^th-round picks to Washington for Dotson and a 5^th-round pick.

Even with this move, the Eagles still have picks in the first, second and third rounds next year. And now they have a wide receiver who should be a significant upgrade over what we’ve seen in camp the last month.

Dotson was a 1^st-round pick just two years ago, and he’s the sixth former 1^st-round pick the Eagles have acquired since last year ended (Mekhi Becton, Kenny Pickett, Devin White, Barkley, Ross).

The Eagles have really struggled to fill that third receiver role the last few years. Quez Watkins followed a promising 2021 with miserable 2022 and 2023 seasons. Zach Pascal did very little in 2022. Same with Olamide Zaccheaus last year.

But Dotson, although disappointing as a high 1^st-round pick, makes a lot of sense in his new role. He doesn’t have to live up to the 1^st-round expectations that followed him from Penn State to Washington, but if he can just catch the football consistently and be a piece of the puzzle, this will be a successful trade.

Dotson had 84 catches for 1,041 yards and 11 touchdowns in his two years in Washington, and that was as a starter but with no stability at quarterback — Carson Wentz, Taylor Heinicke, Sam Howell, Jacoby Brissett.

Eagles fans saw firsthand what Dotson is capable of when he had a career-high 108 yards in a game at the Linc just 10 months ago. That probably says as much about the Eagles’ cornerbacks in 2023 as it says about Dotson.

But it’s undeniable that the Eagles are a better football team today than they were yesterday. 

Nobody makes more trades than Roseman and nobody is more creative about roster building. Whether it’s finding Becton on the scrapheap and turning him into a starting guard, signing Isaiah Rodgers when nobody else wanted him, snagging Caden Sterns after he failed a physical with the Panthers or sending draft picks within the division for a WR3, Roseman is never going to sit still.

For Howie, building a roster is a process that ever ends. He's never satisfied.

He's built two Super Bowl rosters and now he's doing all he can to build a third.

Howie doesn’t always do the right thing. But he always does something.

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