Redskins first-round receiver Josh Doctson could be a candidate for injured reserve as he continues to deal with an Achilles injury, coach Jay Gruden told reporters, including Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Gruden indicated that Docston will be sidelined at least through Washington’s bye week, meaning the pass-catcher wouldn’t return to the field until Week 10, at earliest, according to Liz Clarke of the Washington Post.
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“I think it’s a possibility, we’ll see,” said Gruden about Doctson going on IR. “I think we send him to another doctor, get another opinion. I think the plan right now is probably immobilize him for a little bit just to take complete stress off of it for a little bit of time and see where that leads us. IR — maybe, maybe not. We don’t know yet.”
Earlier this month, Gruden had similary expressed a hope that the Redskins wouldn’t have to shelve Doctson for the year. “We’ll have to wait and see if this thing gets any better the next week or so and go from there,” said Gruden at the time. “I hate to put him on IR and then he’s better tomorrow, you know what I mean, because he’s such a valuable, big play type guy. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happens.”
The 22nd overall pick in this year’s draft, Doctson has only managed to appear in two of the Redskins’ five games to this point. In those two contests, Doctson has hauled in two-of-six targets for 66 yards, but hasn’t found the end zone just yet. Washington isn’t wanting for wide receivers without Doctson, as the club still boasts DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and Jamison Crowder.