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The jury is still out on whether Redskins wide receiver Josh Doctson is a wasted pick, a bust, or if he will ever mature into the potential that made him a first-round pick in 2016.
His injuries and dropped passes through his first two seasons point to him being a bust. But, then he makes spectacular catches like the one he made last year in Seattle to secure a win. On Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, Doctson had a perfect opportunity to make a momentum-changing grab, yet, the former TCU product failed to make the play despite the ball hitting him right in the hands.
Doctson has to catch this pic.twitter.com/mGzoYJQdB1
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) September 16, 2018
Running a flag route, Doctson got opened and would given the Redskins a huge first down and continued a drive that was approaching the red zone. Instead two plays later the Redskins were forced to punt.
Doctson had another opportunity to redeem himself, however, he didn’t. Facing a third down in the red zone, Smith turned to him on the ever-so-lovely fade route. Unfortunately, Doctson couldn’t squeeze the football enough and get his feet down for the touchdown.
This was a damn good effort by Doctson. pic.twitter.com/KhXLkojaF5
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) September 16, 2018
Again, the Redskins settled for a field goal cutting their deficit at the time to 14-6. Doctson made a great effort on the play, but simply could not make the catches needed to change the narrative of the game.
He finished the game four catches for 37 yards on seven targets. Not the type of game expected from a go-to receiver. Two missed opportunities that Washington was counting on him to make. The Redskins ultimately lost 21-9 to the Colts, dropping them to 1-1 on the season.
The offense as a whole was stale and unable to score a touchdown, but Doctson had his chance to swing momentum and simply did not. He has to make catches like those. If he continues to drop passes or lose the trust of Alex Smith the same way he seemingly did with Kirk Cousins, his time in D.C. may be limited.
