Hogs
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- Mar 20, 2019
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The deadline for teams to exercise fifth-year contract options on 2016 first-round picks passed last Friday without Washington picking up wide receiver Josh Doctson‘s option.
That decision didn’t come as a great surprise to anyone who has followed Doctson’s first three NFL seasons. He missed almost all of his rookie season and has caught 79 passes over the last two seasons, which falls short of the kind of production you’d like to see from a first-round wideout.
On Monday, head coach Jay Gruden said that neither the decision to pass on the extension nor Doctson’s production are stopping the team from having high expectations for the coming season.
“I think Josh is an excellent player,” Gruden said, via Rhiannon Walker of TheAthletic.com. “He just hasn’t had the numbers production wise, fantasy football wise that people would seem to expect him to have. We’re all expecting big things from Josh this year. Opportunities and production, there’s a fine line there. He hasn’t had the opportunities a lot of No. 1 receivers have had in the NFL.”
Gruden said those opportunities haven’t come because the team’s offense generally prioritized tight end Jordan Reed or the now-departed wide receiver Jamison Crowder over outside receivers like Doctson. Whatever the reason for the sluggish numbers, it’s probably fair to say that Gruden’s expectations for big things aren’t shared across the board.