The wide receiver trade that the NFL world has been anxiously awaiting … still hasn't happened.

Instead of a Schefter-bomb about a move out of San Francisco, Thursday morning treated us to a different wide receiver transaction, as the Commanders traded Jahan Dotson to the division-rival Eagles.

How will the Dotson trade affect fantasy football rankings and draft strategy? I surveyed our staff of rankers to get to the bottom of everything you need to know.

Jahan Dotson Fantasy Football Outlook
 

 

Dwain McFarland:

  • I have moved Dotson outside of my top 200 overall players. He is now not draftable.

Matthew Freedman:

  • The question that this boils down to is this: Is it better to be the WR2 in a Kliff Kingsbury offense with a rookie QB, or the WR3 in a Kellen Moore offense with a legit MVP candidate as your QB?
     
  • Honestly, it's maybe about the same. I think Dotson now has a wider range of outcomes than he had with the Commanders. He's likely to see fewer targets--but if the Eagles offense takes off or one of A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, or Dallas Goedert gets injured, then all of a sudden, Dotson could be far more productive than he would've been had he stayed in Washington.

Rob Waziak:

  • Dotson moves down from WR65 to WR74 within the same tier. Moving from the Commanders WR2 to the Eagles WR3 isn’t a sizeable drop, but Dotson will see increased competition for targets. The fact that the Eagles paid a third-round pick for his services should matter.

Ian Hartitz:

  • Commanders WR Jahan Dotson was my WR64. Eagles WR Jahan Dotson is my WR76. Is he someone I was advising people to draft before? No. Is he someone I'm advising people to draft now? Also no.

Washington Commanders

Dwain McFarland:

  • Terry McLaurin is locked in as the clear-cut WR1 for the Commanders and is a great WR3 option in fantasy football.
     
  • Ben Sinnott is now viable as a late-round TE target in deep leagues or TE-premium formats. He's probably the second-best receiving option on the team, but fantasy managers will need to demonstrate patience. I have moved him up to 188 overall in my fantasy football rankings.
     
  • Zach Ertz might be an early-season darling at TE on the Waiver Wire. This is something to monitor.
     
  • Dyami Brown is now a last-round dart in best ball drafts. He's a deep-ball savant paired with a good deep-ball passer in Jayden Daniels.

Matthew Freedman:

  • The departure of Dotson is good news for WR Terry McLaurin and TEs Zach Ertz and Ben Sinnott. Each of them should get a slight rankings bump.
     
  • The other WRs in Washington -- Luke McCaffrey, Olamide Zaccheaus, and Dyami Brown -- should all get a shot to compete for the WR2 spot, but it's hard to know how that battle will end. Of those three, I prefer McCaffrey the most.
     
  • As much as I like rookie QB Jayden Daniels, I think this does hurt him a little. That said, I still want to roster him as much as possible.

Rob Waziak:

  • As a result of a much clearer role in the Commanders' offense, Luke McCaffrey moves from WR90 to WR75, one spot behind Dotson. McCaffrey will see a sizable ADP spike that could get out of control while preferred guys like Josh Downs and Michael Wilson, or even Gabe Davis, slip through the cracks.

Ian Hartitz:

  • The artist known as LMC deserves a slight bump in the ranks and is in play after the first 65 or so WRs are off the board. It remains unlikely anyone beyond Terry McLaurin turns into a fantasy-relevant option in this passing game, but hey, third-round draft capital is a helluva drug in fantasy land. That said, I still prefer LATE-round darts like Demarcus Robinson and DeMario Douglas at cost compared to Christian's younger brother.
     
  • Slight upticks are warranted for the Washington TEs and complementary WRs, but even then, do we really want exposure to a passing game projected to finish among the league's least-productive units? Feel free to throw a literal last-round at Dyami Brown if you want, it's a free country after all, but Dotson himself was already little more than a low-upside late-round sleeper; his departure from Washington and insertion into Philly is only receiving as much news as it is because it's August AKA the season of overreacting.

Philadelphia Eagles

Dwain McFarland:

  • As mentioned above, Dotson has fallen out of my top 200 picks and is not in consideration on draft day.
     
  • This trade is also a hit to the Eagles' 2024 draft picks, Johnny Wilson and Ainias Smith, in dynasty formats.

Matthew Freedman:

  • This doesn't change anything at all for WRs A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
     
  • The addition of Dotson might make QB Jalen Hurts a little more intriguing, just in terms of his theoretical ceiling. It might be higher now than it was before the trade. It's not as if I'm moving him up my QB ranks at all. He was already my QB2, which is where he's going off the board in most leagues (per our Fantasy Football ADP Tool). But this move does make me a little more willing to take Hurts at cost.
     
  • Dotson might be a slight negative for TE Dallas Goedert, since Dotson is presumably better equipped to compete for targets than any of the other guys who were previously competing for the Eagles WR3 spot.

Rob Waziak:

  • Dallas Goedert is likely to see a dip in targets and fewer snaps out of the slot. It also doesn’t help that he’s currently missing practice with an oblique injury. I'm keeping him at TE11, but the gap between him and Brock Bowers is nearly non-existent at this point.
     
  • Jalen Hurts’ ceiling rises with another legitimate passing game option.

Ian Hartitz:

  • Dotson provides a slight upgrade over unknown rookie Johnny Wilson and journeyman Parris Campbell, but it's a bit of a reach to call this a notable upgrade for anyone involved. Obviously, Wilson and Campbell aren't LATE-round darts throwing, but they weren't really looking like great picks in the first place. The Eagles were one of just three offenses with 50%-plus of their target share centered around just two WRs last season; I don't expect the addition of Dotson to change that.

Could the Commanders Target a Brandon Aiyuk Trade?

Rob Waziak:

  • I’ve been steadily lower on Brandon Aiyuk than the others, but I do sense this could be a falling domino for his trade prospects, so I’m moving him up a little to WR17. The Commanders upgraded from a 5th-round pick to a 3rd and added a pair of 7th-round picks to offset their loss of Dotson, which could be beneficial in an offer to the 49ers.

Ian Hartitz:

  • I'm not moving Aiyuk in the ranks because I still believe his most likely outcome is returning to the 49ers.