The Vikings have agreed to sign Josh Doctson, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Vikings initially elected to keep four receivers on their roster, but Doctson will occupy the fifth spot to support Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Chad Beebe, and Olabisi Johnson.
Fun fact: Doctson was selected one spot ahead of Laquon Treadwell in the 2016 draft. The Vikings dropped Treadwell over the weekend and, effectively, swapped him for Doctson.
Doctson has history with Kirk Cousins, which suggests that he could be in line for more targets than your average WR5. On the other hand, they didn’t exactly set the world on fire either – in 18 games with Cousins at QB, Doctson caught just 37 balls for 568 yards and six scores.
Doctson has started 26 games over the past two years for Washington, but this has only resulted in 79 total catches for 1,034 yards and eight touchdowns. Last year, he placed 96th out of 107 qualifying wideouts in yards per route run last season, according to Pro Football Focus.
In a corresponding move, Minnesota released center Brett Jones, though Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that the Vikings could end up re-signing Jones at some point if he is not signed by another club.
How do you list Diggs in
front of Thielen? Adam
is the number one!
Because Diggs is the outside #1 wr. He’s their deep threat. The slot guy is never listed or paid as the #1 wr even though he usually amassed more targets. It’s harder to take the top off the defense outside than it is to catch 100 short – intermediate throws on the inside.
Look at the patriots. Edelman and Gronk were never the #1 wr even though you always knew those two would lead in targets.
Nice receiving corps up in Minnesota. Really liking this.
For some reason, Minnesota lists them that way as well. Diggs-WR1, Theilen-WR2, but I agree with you. Adam had more targets, more receptions & more yards than.Diggs last year. They both had 9 TDs. But in this day & age, there really isn’t no difference in skill or pay between WR1 & WR2’s for the team’s lucky enough to have multiple, top end receivers.
Aldrick Robinson had a prior working relationship with Kirk Cousins as well. See how long that lasted with the Vikes??
Doctson is a very decent number three receiver. He doesn’t like to get hit hard in the middle too often (Pierre Garcon is the prototype for a receiver who catches in traffic) and doesn’t have after burners but Doctson’s hands are pretty good and his routes are passable.
The problem Doctson has in Washington is that it was expected that he’d be the number one receiver and set the pace. Doctson would have benefited enormously from being paired with someone like Thielen or Diggs. Now he’ll be number three. It’s a good place for him. He’ll probably catch more than as a number one.
When the Vikings contacted Josh Doctson with regard to an opportunity with their club, did they ask,
“What’s up Doc?”
I’m curious as to whether Doctson can do punt returns? I am not finding any statistical info that says he has at least tried. I guess that since he is not the fastest receiver in the world, he doesn’t.