{"id":265954,"date":"2025-08-06T09:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/265954\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T09:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:03:11","slug":"eagles-wr-jahan-dotson-showing-promise-chemistry-with-jalen-hurts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/265954\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagles WR Jahan Dotson showing promise, chemistry with Jalen Hurts"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014\u00a0Jalen Hurts faced a Cover Zero blitz during a red-zone drill at Tuesday\u2019s practice. Pressure was coming from all angles. Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was breathing down the quarterback\u2019s neck. Hurts needed someone to step up.<\/p>\n

Who did Hurts look to? It was Jahan Dotson, the former Penn State star wide receiver who\u2019s settling in as a legitimate option in his second year with the Eagles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hurts whipped a pass Dotson\u2019s way, and he beat Cooper DeJean on a crossing pattern for a touchdown. Hurts said he was \u201cfired up,\u201d and he wasn\u2019t the only one. His teammates and coaches\u00a0took notice. So did the fans in attendance at the NovaCare Complex.<\/p>\n

Hurts called it \u201ca big-time play\u201d from Dotson. And the fourth-year receiver would love it if that high-leverage moment in practice translates to the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou build those things off of time and reps,\u201d Hurts said Tuesday. \u201cJahan, he\u2019s showing now that we\u2019re able to build. So keep showing up, keep making plays and keep taking advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After an up-and-down first year with the Eagles, that\u2019s exactly what Dotson wants to hear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was around this time last year that Philadelphia acquired Dotson from the Washington Commanders. After dominating at Penn State, the Nazareth native was selected No. 16 overall in the 2022 NFL draft by the Commanders. Dotson showed promise, scoring 12 touchdowns in his first two years, but he fell out of favor with the new coaching staff.<\/p>\n

The Eagles saw an opportunity. Howie Roseman and the organization gave up a third-round pick and two seventh-round picks to acquire Dotson on Aug. 22, 2024. He joined the team shortly before the season started, making it hard to acclimate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dotson had to learn the system and develop a rapport with Hurts. Not to mention, he had to compete with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert for targets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Eagles acquired Dotson to be the team\u2019s No. 3 wide receiver. But the payoff wasn\u2019t immediate. Prior to Philadelphia\u2019s backup-heavy Week 18 game against the New York Giants, Dotson had only 12 catches for 122 yards and zero touchdowns to his name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a 24-year-old wide receiver, who only three years prior was named first-team All-Big Ten, seeing that few targets was difficult. But Dotson kept working.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like last year I was picking\u00a0it up along the way,\u201d Dotson said earlier in camp. \u201cIt really showed later in the season as I was gaining more trust with Jalen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NFLPhiladelphia Eagles wide receiver Jahan Dotson (83) smiles after he caught a pass for a touchdown during the first quarter of an NFL Wildcard playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Philadelphia. Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media <\/p>\n

Dotson shined when his name was called in the postseason. He was targeted only five times in four games. But he had a red-zone touchdown in the win over the Green Bay Packers. And he had a near touchdown in the first quarter of the Super Bowl, getting tackled at the one-yard line after snaring a 27-yard catch down the sideline against the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of confidence in him as the year went on last year,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cFor him to make those big-time plays he made toward the end of the year, that was strictly based on confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dotson was still a point of conversation as the Eagles entered the offseason after their 40-22 triumph in Super Bowl LIX. Everyone knew Brown and Smith would be back, forming arguably the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. But could the Eagles get more out of their WR3?<\/p>\n

So far in training camp, Dotson has been a standout. He\u2019s taken advantage of Brown missing time due to injury, making plays all over the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tuesday was another example of what Dotson can provide the Eagles in 2025 \u2014 and how far he\u2019s come since being acquired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get traded and come in and the week of a game you get thrown in to go play and you don\u2019t really have a grasp of the offense and time with the quarterback, it\u2019s tough,\u201d Smith said Tuesday. \u201cBut I think now you see it. He\u2019s out there making plays. Him and Jalen\u2019s relationship, you can see it\u2019s paying off with the work that they\u2019re putting in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to me to produce,\u201d Dotson added. \u201c… I\u2019ve been here for OTAs, training camp, so I have no excuse this year. I\u2019m going to make it happen whenever my opportunity is called upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014\u00a0Jalen Hurts faced a Cover Zero blitz during a red-zone drill at Tuesday\u2019s practice. Pressure was coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[25,7,7191,492,6,2902,242,109,2476],"class_list":{"0":"post-265954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-eagles","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jahan-dotson","11":"tag-jalen-hurts","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-penn-state-football","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","16":"tag-philadelphiaeagles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114981018435679740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}