Eagles Encouraged to Bench Former First Round Pick in Favor of ‘Elite’ Rookie WR

Getty Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Johnny Wilson.

Any team on the kind of heater the Philadelphia Eagles are on right now knows that tinkering with the lineup too much is insanity — but it’s just as dangerous to think you’ve got everything figured out after a 6-game winning streak.

One minor area where the Eagles are in need of improvement is at their third wide receiver spot, where they’ve tried to shoehorn former first round pick Jahan Dotson in alongside A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith ever since they sent a 2025 third round pick and two 2025 seventh round picks to the Washington Commanders in exchange for Dotson in August.

Dotson hasn’t just been a failure to this point — he’s been a regression. With only 9 receptions for 106 yards and no touchdowns through 10 games, Dotson is even behind the middling pace he was on in his 2 seasons with the Commanders, where he averaged just over 500 receiving yards per year and had 11 total touchdowns.

While the Eagles might find a workable third wide receiver option through free agency with players like Michael Thomas and Hunter Renfrow, a better idea would be to give rookie wide receiver Johnny Wilson a chance in the starting lineup and do it while there’s still enough time to determine if Wilson can handle a bigger role in the offense.

Wilson Has Untapped Potential as Wide Receiver

If you’re a college football fan, you probably remember Wilson from his time playing for Florida State during a great run by the Seminoles in which they went 23-4 over 2022 and 2023.

Wilson was one of the best players for the Seminoles in that stretch and formed a potent wide receiver duo with current Buffalo Bills rookie Keon Coleman.

The 6-foot-7, 231-pound Wilson spent the first 2 seasons of his college career at Arizona State before transferring to Florida State, where he was a 2-time All-ACC pick. Wilson had 84 receptions for 1,514 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns in his final 2 collegiate seasons while missing 3 games due to injury in 2023.

The Eagles took Wilson in the sixth round (No. 185 overall) of the 2024 NFL draft.

“An enormous target with an elite catch radius, Wilson is still in the process of learning to play to his traits,” NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. “He is fairly physical against press but plodding feet limit his release quickness and ability to separate out of breaks. He flashes impressive catches here and there but generally fails to impose his frame and strength on defenders, leading to a disappointing contested-catch rate for such a big man. ”

Dotson One of NFL’s Worst Starting Wide Receivers

Even in the most forgiving of evaluations, Dotson’s career to this point can only be looked at as an unmitigated bust since the Commanders selected him in the first round (No. 19 overall) of the 2022 NFL draft out of Penn State.

How bad has it been? Dotson was arguably the worst starting wide receiver in the NFL in 2023 in terms of efficiency, leading the league in dropped passes in that stretch.

Dotson missed 5 games as a rookie in 2022 and finished with 35 receptions for 523 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns in 12 games. Dotson played all 17 games for the Commanders in 2023 but his stats got worse — 49 receptions for 518 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns.