Jahan Dotson spent the offseason building chemistry with Jalen Hurts — and it’s showing in Eagles camp

Jahan Dotson was thrown straight into the fire with the Eagles in 2024. Now, with a full offseason with the Birds, he’s a “completely different player.”

Dotson was traded to the Eagles from the Washington Commanders deep into training camp last year and became the Eagles’ third receiver behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. He didn’t play in a single preseason game with his new team and was targeted just twice in the Eagles’ first two games.

And when Brown and Smith were out, Dotson didn’t meet the moment against Tampa Bay in Week 4. He caught just two passes for 11 yards on four targets. Instead, Jalen Hurts turned to Dallas Goedert, who caught seven of his eight targets for a team-high 62 yards.

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Dotson wants to be sure that doesn’t happen again.

“[Hurts] doesn’t want drop-off,” Dotson said. “Going back to last year, we played Tampa Bay, and [Smith] and [Brown] were out, we didn’t have that connection. It was two weeks, three weeks. When those opportunities come, whether those two, someone’s not practicing or someone’s not playing, they feel like there’s no drop-off, so that he’s comfortable with me.”

This year, Dotson had a full offseason to train with the Eagles and learn the playbook before heading out onto the field. Dotson is in a contract year, after the Eagles declined his $16.8 million player option. To further develop his game, he trained with Hurts in Houston for several weeks this summer.

Hurts is “extremely” hands-on about how he wants the receivers to run routes and where he wants them to be on the field, Dotson said. After a different quarterback and training camp in Washington, Dotson said the lack of lead time kept him a step behind in learning the playbook and the details Hurts needed to see in the receivers’ game. Those weekly throwing sessions in Houston with Hurts helped Dotson talk through the playbook and build the chemistry that was missing last season.

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“You build those things based off of time and reps and having that effort put in,” Hurts said earlier in the week. “ … Jahan is showing what we’ve been able to build.”

That connection is materializing early in training camp. With Brown and Smith sidelined for parts of training camp, Dotson has been Hurts’ favorite target. He’s earning plenty of targets, and he’s made a few highlight-reel plays, including a touchdown catch against Cooper DeJean on Aug. 5.

In the Eagles’ first preseason game, Hurts did not play, but as the lead receiving option on the early drives, Dotson had two catches on two targets for 27 yards and flashed his ability to add yards after the catch.

With younger receivers like undrafted rookie Darius Cooper and second-year players Ainias Smith and Johnny Wilson popping against the Bengals and starting to earn first-team reps in camp, Dotson is leaning on his chemistry with Hurts to continue to evolve his game and solidify his spot in the lineup.

“Night and day,” Dotson said. “Last year, coming in when I did, it’s really hard to simulate that timing on the field. I was kind of thrown right into the fire from Day 1. It was like, ‘OK go out here and plug and play.’ As a quarterback, you don’t know when a guy is going to be there. You don’t know his speed; you can’t judge that off of plugging and playing. Those reps I’ve had with him during the offseason, whether here or wherever, it’s enabled him to know where I’m going to be on certain routes. It’s built our trust.”