In Kevin Stefanski's attempts to rebuild the receiver room, the Atlanta Falcons are taking a major risk banking on Jahan Dotson to revive his career with them. They only signed Dotson to a two-year, $15 million deal, which isn't exactly groundbreaking, but at the moment, he would be the starting WR2 opposite Drake London.
Weirdly enough, Dotson was a first-round pick in 2022, the same draft where the Falcons took Drake London.. and he was selected just eight picks later. So Stefanski clearly sees potential in him, at least more than Darnell Mooney, but the journey to re-establish himself as a quality WR will be an uphill battle.
The numbers indicate that Dotson is one of the worst receivers in the NFL at getting open, which is an issue that has plagued him throughout his career. NFL analyst Warren Sharp revealed that per ESPN's player tracking data on all routes run, the 25-year-old is in some truly catastrophic company.
Basically every other player listed is a true deep threat, just like Dotson. At the very least, this means that he'll provide the Falcons with the vertical juice their offense lacked in 2025, especially since he's showed flashes of potential. But that won't be enough to revive his career if he can't get open consistently.
Kevin Stefanski knows exactly what he needs to do to get Jahan Dotson's career back on track
Besides Dotson, the other players this metric (and Sharp) exposed were:
- Tyquan Thornton (KC)
- Jalen Tolbert (MIA)
- Alec Pierce (IND)
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling (PIT)
- Devaughn Vele (NO)
- Emeka Egbuka (TB)
- Isaiah Bond (CLE)
Like I mentioned, not a single player who is able to win at the line of scrimmage. This is all players who do their best work downfield, so this new coaching staff should be working on creating seperation with their young WR so he can prove that he's more than just a one-trick pony in the passing game.
Luckily, the Dirty Birds hired experienced WR coach Robert Prince to be their receivers coach, which could help the Penn State product. Prince has coached players like Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, CeeDee Lamb, and Calvin Johnson, so he clearly has a track record of getting the most out of WRs.
This means that Dotson's development is in good hands. The only reason his numbers were so bad the last two seasons is because he was buried on the Philadelphia Eagles' depth chart, but was productive during his time in Washington. He was a stud at Penn State too, so there is upside here.
Dotson isn't the type of player who will deter the Falcons from adding to the receiver room during the 2026 NFL Draft. In fact, it would be pretty foolish if Stefanski and Ian Cunningham failed to draft another receiver, especially knowing how bad the receiver room was behind London in 2025.
$15 million doesn't seem like a lot, but for two years, it's a lot of investment in a player who doesn't have the most promising track record. Now that he's out of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith's shadow, he'll have all the opportunities to succeed as a starter in Atlanta. Hopefully he makes the most of it.