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Some positions on the Washington Commanders might take years to establish a quality starter in a particular spot.
Not the wide receivers, though. They might just be one player away, and that player might be 2024 third-round draft pick Luke McCaffrey (No. 100 overall), the son of three-time Super Bowl champion wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and younger brother of 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year and San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
“He’s got size, he’s got speed, he’s got great movement skills, and I think he’s only going to ascend,” Washington general manager Adam Peters told Commanders.com’s Zach Selby ahead of rookie minicamp on May 10-12.
Luke McCaffrey spent the first three seasons of his college career as a quarterback — two seasons at Nebraska and one season at Rice — before becoming a star wide receiver for the Owls and turning himself into an NFL draft pick.
In two seasons catching passes, McCaffrey had 129 receptions for 1,714 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns. He had a breakout season in 2023, leading his team with 71 receptions for 992 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns along with 15 carries for 117 rushing yards on the way to All-American Athletic Conference honors.
First-Round Pick in 2022 Has Struggled at WR
The Commanders already have one of the NFL’s most respected veteran wide receivers on the roster with Terry McLaurin, who was a third-round pick like McCaffrey in 2019.
McLaurin has four consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards and made the Pro Bowl in 2022. He’s also paid like one of the NFL’s best — he signed a 3-year, $68.3 million contract extension in June 2022 that keeps him with the Commanders through at least 2025.
After that, the Commanders are hoping rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick, can breathe some life into the career of former first-round pick Jahan Dotson.
Dotson, selected No. 16 overall out of Penn State in 2022, seemed to regress in 2023.
As a rookie in 2022, when he played in 12 games, Dotson had 35 receptions for 523 yards and 7 touchdowns. In 2023, playing in all 17 games, Dotson finished with 49 receptions for 518 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Dotson will presumably start the season at one of the starting outside wide receiver spots and with McCaffrey in the slot. But nothing is set in stone, and it’s prove-it time for the third-year player, who showed some self-reflection at the end of the 2023 season after the Commanders went 4-13 — the seventh consecutive year the franchise has missed out on a winning record.
“Just look forward to getting better,” Dotson told The Washington Times in Jan. 2024 following the end of the regular season. “I want to be a lot better for myself, and for this team. So I can’t wait to do that.”
McCaffrey Turned Heads With Combine Performance
McCaffrey, 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, turned heads with his performance at the NFL combine in Feb. 2024, where he ran a faster 40-yard dash time (4.46 seconds) than his older brother, who was the No. 8 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers in 2017.
“I’m ready to get to work right away and start to compete and buy into this organization,” McCaffrey told Commanders.com. “I love what everyone in that building stands for. Excited for the new faces and the kind of ability to be part of something that you can build and start from the ground up. I can’t wait to get going.”
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