Bleeding Green Nation
The Eagles finally have a No. 3 receiver Jalen Hurts seems to trust.
For a team to win the Super Bowl, contributions must come from ascending players who see a jump in performance and production from one year to the next.
Last year, a number of Eagles players made “the leap.” Zack Baun. Nolan Smith. Milton Williams. Nakobe Dean (before he got hurt). Mekhi Becton. Without significant improvement from all five of those players, the Birds likely don’t blitz through the NFC playoffs and win Super Bowl 59.
Thanks to the departure of multiple key free agents, the Eagles are depending on younger players to make “the leap” as they defend their title this year. The rookies drafted in April will do some of that lifting, but there are a number of players taken from the last few drafts that head coach Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio need to reach another level of production in 2025.
Below are the five players I think are most likely to that.
Signed as a free agent just before the start of the season, it took Dotson a little bit of time to learn the playbook and garner the trust of Jalen Hurts. Hurts has his favorites, and it’s understandable he would focus in on A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert when throwing the football, or to simply dump it off to Saquon Barkley when the heat is on.
Dotson caught only 12 passes for 122 yards prior to hauling in seven for 94 in the season finale against the Giants as the No. 1 receiver and with Tanner McKee under center. He was relatively quiet throughout the postseason, too, although his lone catch through their first three postseason games was the team’s first touchdown of the playoffs.
He was not targeted against the Rams or Commanders, but in Super Bowl 59, Dotson suddenly had Hurts’ attention. He hauled in the first big pass of the game, a near-touchdown on the team’s second possession that ended in a Tush Push score and gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead.
Hurts then found him for a nice check-down reception that resulted in a first down in the second quarter. He was targeted three times in the Super Bowl, which isn’t a tremendous amount, to be sure, but it signals more opportunities are coming for Dotson this season.
A former first-round pick, he has the ability to be the team’s best No. 3 receiver of the Sirianni/Hurts era. He’s never going to pile up yardarge or receptions, but could be that security blanket/slot receiver the team has needed that Quez Watkins, Olamide Zaccheaus and Julio Jones never became.
Call it a hunch, but I think Dotson has earned Hurts’ trust entering 2025 and doubles last year’s receptions (19) and yardage (216) totals, with a few more touchdowns this year, too.
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