PHILADELPHIA -- Jahan Dotson had the opportunity he was waiting for with the Philadelphia Eagles. Needless to say, he didn't take advantage of it.
With A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Britain Covey out, Dotson played a team-high 49 snaps among the wide receivers in Sunday's loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He finished with two catches for 11 yards on four targets.
Even though Dotson got the snaps as the No. 1 wide receiver, why the low volume?
"It's hard to force-feed someone the football," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said Monday. "As an offensive coach, you always wanna be on the attack. There's being on the attack and there's taking what the defense gives you. The ball went to him when it was supposed to go to him."
Dotson has five catches for 25 yards through four games with the Eagles, having just nine targets in that span. This was after Dotson had just seven catches for 83 yards and zero touchdowns in his final five games with the Washington Commanders last season.
The verdict? Twelve catches for 108 yards and zero touchdowns in Dotson's last nine games.
"There were some times when the ball could have went to him, where something might have happened that took that away," Sirianni said. "Sometimes you're the product of how the defense has played as a wide receiver. It's a little different at wide receiver of how the ball gets itself to you. The ball didn't find him as much yesterday and it hasn't these first couple weeks."
Dotson was part of a poor showing from the Eagles wide receiver group in Sunday's loss. Parris Campbell had 4 catches for 17 yards and John Ross had 1 catch for 6 yards. Campbell was cut at the 53-man roster cutdowns and so was Ross. The Eagles actually brought Ross back to the practice squad last week.
Dotson was brought in to be the third wide receiver behind Smith and Brown and step up when one of the two couldn't play. So far, Dotson hasn't lived up to those expectations.
"That doesn't mean we're not as high on him as we were when we first got him," Sirianni said. "I think he's got great playmaking ability, great potential. We just gotta find ways to figure out how to use that potential."
The Eagles have no choice but to stick with Dotson. After all, they traded a third-round pick for him.
