Daily Slop – 4 Jul 24: Mark Bullock evaluates Jahan Dotson’s opportunity for a bounce-back season

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Can Jahan Dotson bounce back from a disappointing second season?

Breaking down Dotsons struggles last year and previewing his third year in the NFL

Commanders receiver Jahan Dotson is reaching a critical point in his NFL career. Dotson had a promising rookie season where he looked like one of the best receivers in his draft class until he got hurt and missed time, but he followed that up with a poor season last year. Dotson himself admits as much himself, saying earlier this offseason“I wasn’t a fan of my season last year”. So what exactly went wrong for Dotson last season and is there hope for the former first-round pick to bounce back entering his third season in the league? Let’s take a closer look.

Dotson’s priority has to be cutting out the drops. Dotson was attributed with five drops last season, which isn’t terrible as a stat on its own. Terry McLaurin also had five drops last season and lots of receivers had more drops than that over the course of a season. However, Dotson’s target share makes that number look worse. Dotson had 5 drops on 83 targets, which equates to a drop every 16.6 targets. McLaurin’s five drops came from 132 targets, nearly 50 more targets than Dotson had. That means McLaurin averaged a drop every 26.4 targets, which is a huge difference.

It wasn’t just that Dotson dropped passes, that happens to every receiver from time to time. It was that Dotson often seemed to drop passes in critical situations.

Here are two of Dotson’s five drops from last year. The first play of this clip shows a third and four situation against the Eagles early in the season. Dotson lines up as part of a stacked set in the slot and runs a shallow cross. He breaks open over the middle at the first down marker and quarterback Sam Howell places a good ball in front of him for him to run onto and convert into a first down, but Dotson drops the pass, likely taking his eye off the ball to look for incoming defenders to try and avoid after the catch.

On the second play of the clip, Dotson runs a deep over route off play-action. The play works perfect with Dotson breaking open underneath McLaurin’s deep route on the far side of the field and Howell spots him well. Howell delivers a good pass out in front of Dotson for him to run onto and potentially take it all the way to the end zone for a touchdown after the catch, but again Dotson fails the most important part and drops the pass as it falls through his fingers.

Obviously the drops can’t happen at that type of rate if Dotson wants to bounce back this season and fulfill the potential that saw him drafted in the first round.

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Riggo’s Rag

How can Bo Bauer make the Commanders 53-man roster in 2024?

The linebacker is looking to surge his way up the depth chart this summer.

When he tore knee ligaments early in the 2022 season, it appeared that Bauer’s path to the pros was permanently blocked.

But the linebacker doesn’t give up easily. Despite the injury, Bauer got himself in good enough shape to participate in Notre Dame’s 2023 pro day. His performance there earned him an invitation to camp with the Seattle Seahawks. Still dealing with the after-effects of the knee complication, he failed to make the roster, so he spent the following year getting himself back into peak condition.

Bauer returned to Notre Dame for their 2024 pro day and earned himself another shot. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Commanders. He is a long shot. But in a linebacker room full of new faces, the 6-foot-3, 235-pounder is, rather remarkably, still in the conversation.

At Notre Dame, his long hair and shaggy beard paired perfectly with his wild man on-field activities. Though Bauer remained a backup for most of his time in South Bend, he tended to make plays when he was on the field.

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Sports Illustrated

ESPN Draft Expert Projects ‘Prototypical Left Tackle’ to Washington Commanders

The Washington Commanders, as of now, look to need a left tackle in the 2025 NFL Draft.

There aren’t many expectations for the Commanders in 2024 other than to show progress, so doing that should place them on a better trend as they move forward each season. Even so, the Commanders aren’t looked at as an average team and will need to improve in areas such as the offensive line, which is why ESPN’s draft expert Matt Miller has Washington taking an elite offensive tackle, Texas Longhorns Kelvin Banks Jr., in his most recent 2025 first-round mock draft.

“If the draft were tomorrow, we’d be talking about left tackle and edge rusher as massive needs for the Commanders,” Miller wrote. “That could change between now and April, but general manager Adam Peters could definitely address the blind side of the line; Washington has to protect quarterback Jayden Daniels after allowing 65 sacks last season (tied for second most). Banks is a prototypical left tackle with a powerful 324-pound frame, and the junior has allowed just two sacks over his two full seasons starting for the Longhorns.”

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Podcasts & videos

Beltway Football: Assistant Coach pod with Tommy Donnatell and Ken Norton

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Washington Commanders Austin Ekeler Sparks Jealous Outburst from Former Giants Tiki Barber | TE Room

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Pro Football Talk

Drake Maye improved during the offseason, but Jacoby Brissett is still expected to start

Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye is a project, and although the early indications are that he’s taking well to coaching in New England, he’s unlikely to be QB1 for the Patriots in Week One.

Jacoby Brissett is a -300 favorite to be the Patriots’ Week One starter. Maye is a +220 underdog, via DraftKings.com.

Still, Maye’s improvement from the start of rookie minicamp in May to the end of offseason practices a month later was noticeable, according to Tom Curran of NBCSportsBoston.com. Maye’s footwork, timing and accuracy all got better as he worked with the Patriots’ coaching staff.

The most likely scenario, according to Curran, is that Brissett starts most of the season but the Patriots turn the offense over to Maye some time around Week 13, giving him a few games as a rookie to show what he can do before focusing on 2025 as the season when they expect to see him prove he’s ready to start.

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Front Office Sports

Nike’s Worst Stock Plunge Forces Big Changes to Win Back Consumers

Nike already was facing an uphill climb to restore its own financial health and consumer confidence in the face of several major challenges. But the company is now also doing so on the heels of its worst single day on the stock market and in the midst of trying to forge a new market for itself.

A day after last Thursday’s release of weak quarterly earnings and a downgraded future outlook, Nike shares plummeted 20%, wiping out about $28 billion of shareholder value. The drastic fall marked the steepest one-day percentage decrease in Nike shares since the company went public in 1980. Two subsequent days of trading have been comparatively calmer, with Monday’s 1.9% gain countered by a 1% fall Tuesday. But Nike shares remain at their lowest level since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Going into last week’s quarterly earnings report, Nike had been in the midst of a $2 billion cost-cutting campaign, and was battling ongoing issues both internally and across the sporting goods and footwear business—while also working damage control for its MLB uniform debacle.

But the earnings report, and a subsequent management call with industry analysts, revealed further issues, including a projected Fiscal Year 2025 sales decline of roughly 4–6% instead of a prior expectation of a gain during the year, and a 10% drop in the current quarter. In addition to consumer sentiments increasingly favoring rival brands such as Hoka, On, and New Balance, Nike is grappling with currency issues, underperformance in its digital business, and a weakened sales outlook in China.

“Our key conclusion is there will be no quick rebound for Nike’s earnings,” wrote UBS analyst Jay Sole in a research note to investors. “We believe Nike is embarking on what will be a multiyear reset of its business.”

A significant part of that reset will be the introduction of less-expensive shoes. One such release will be a new lineup of footwear priced below $100. That effort is designed to address rising consumer concerns about ongoing price creep, particularly as many of Nike’s top models currently sell for as much as twice that figure.

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All a’Twitter

Netflix had a hit on its hands last summer when it dropped “Quarterback” and took an inside look at the NFL’s top starters and their trials and tribulations through the 2022 season.

In 2023, Netflix announced its “Receiver” project, which will debut later this summer. “Receiver” will take an inside look at the 2023 seasons of Justin Jefferson, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Davante Adams and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

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