Why'd Commanders Trade Jahan Dotson?

The Washington Commanders made the decision to trade Jahan Dotson to the Philadelphia Eagles this week in a move that shocked some, while others saw it coming.

With Dotson in a fight for the WR2 role, it became clear over the last couple of weeks that it was a battle he was losing. Dyami Brown, Olamide Zaccheaus, Luke McCaffrey, and Jamison Crowder were all ahead of Jahan in the depth chart.

For head coach Dan Quinn, who spoke for the first time since the trade went down, revealed that everything was a factor in the organization's decision to move on from Dotson.

“I think everything's a factor when you're talking about evaluations of things,” Quinn said . “You've heard us say this,  we thought this was a deep and strong group that had a lot of different guys and feature them in different ways, but certainly at the end, like I said, just really matter of just hey here was an opportunity to go help the team and thought that was the best way to go about it.”

With Dotson being a solid contributor in his first two NFL seasons, totaling at least 500 receiving yards and four touchdowns in each year, in his third preseason with the Commanders, something just wasn't right.

A host of new receivers had entered the building and and overtaken Dotson in the depth chart, which isn't ideal for a player with something to prove.

“I think at the end, we're always going to make the decisions that are just rock solid and best for the team," Quinn added. "This was one of those examples where we had an opportunity to do that and so that's that's why we did it.”

Related: Ugly Rebuilding Truth Revealed in Latest Commanders Trade

The Commanders are clearly confident in their receivers on the roster, with Kliff Kingsbury making special mention of Zaccheaus and his improvement throughout preseason.

But for Dotson, for whatever reason, it just didn't click. As the Commanders begin a new era, they have started by making a tough decision that they feel will improve the team moving forward.