Rookie wide receiver Josh Doctson has limited role in Redskins debut

By Anthony Gulizia - The Washington Times - Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The fact that Josh Doctson was on the field at all in the Washington Redskins’ 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night represented a strong degree of improvement for the rookie wide receiver, who had missed the entire preseason with left Achilles tendon tendinitis.

Doctson had been sidelined since May when he sustained the injury in rookie minicamp and then aggravated it again in the first week of organized team activities. He wasn’t able to do much of anything during training camp and the odds seemed slim for him to be ready for the start of the season.

Toward the end of the preseason, though, Doctson was able to increase his workload in small increments and was removed from the physically unable to perform list when they finalized the 53-man roster.

As the Redskins prepared for the Steelers last week, Doctson finally returned to practice in a limited capacity, and then was a full participant in the team’s walkthrough before the game. The plan was to bring him along slowly and the Redskins did that. Doctson played just 12 snaps, most of which came in the fourth quarter after a brief appearance early in the first quarter.

His made his first NFL reception with 1:26 to play in the game when he hauled in a 9-yard pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins on the sideline.

“He had a couple good days at practice,” coach Jay Gruden said after the game. “You know, I wanted to get him out here pregame warmup and let him run around, just get a taste of the game. You know, he’s our fifth wideout. We got him in a little bit, sporadically. So we’ll see how he feels [Monday] and hopefully we can use him the rest of the time.”

Two other brief observations from the Redskins snap counts:

** Undrafted rookie Rob Kelley secured his spot on the 53-man roster with his strong pass-protection skills and decisive vision, but he didn’t play on Monday. Entering the game, Gruden and the Redskins coaches had expected to rotate Kelley into the mix with Matt Jones and Chris Thompson. The problem was that the Redskins strayed from the running game once they fell behind. They called just 11 run plays in comparison to 43 pass attempts.

** The Redskins boasted strong depth at the cornerback position in the preseason, but they stuck with the trio of Josh Norman, Bashaud Breeland and Dashaun Phillips against Pittsburgh. Greg Toler played just two defensive snaps and Quinton Dunbar didn’t play any. Third-round draft pick Kendall Fuller was inactive.

Here are the full snap counts from Monday, with the amount played in parentheses.

Offense: QB Kirk Cousins (58/58), LT Trent Williams (58/58), LG Shawn Lauvao (58/58), C Kory Lichtensteiger (58/58), RG Brandon Scherff (58/58), RT Morgan Moses (58/58), TE Jordan Reed (50/58), WR DeSean Jackson (48/58), WR Jamison Crowder (47/58), WR Pierre Garcon (40/58), RB Chris Thompson (39/58), TE Vernon Davis (19/58), RB Matt Jones (19/58), WR Josh Doctson (12/58), WR Ryan Grant (10/58), TE Niles Paul (6/58).

Defense: CB Josh Norman (68/68), ILB Will Compton (68/68), FS DeAngelo Hall (68/68), CB Bashaud Breeland (67/68), SS David Bruton (66/68), OLB Ryan Kerrigan (60/68), OLB Preston Smith (59/68), ILB Mason Foster (51/68), DE Chris Baker (50/68), CB Dashaun Phillips (46/68), DL Ziggy Hood (40/68), NT Kedric Golston (28/68), DE Ricky Jean Francois (22/68), ILB Su’a Cravens (18/68), DE Kendall Reyes (18/68), OLB Trent Murphy (15/68), OLB Houston Bates (2/68), CB Greg Toler (2/68).

Special teams (10 or more snaps): Bates (21/25), ILB Terence Garvin (15/25), SS Deshazor Everett (15/25), ILB Martrell Spaight (15/25), Paul (14/25), Foster (14/25), Cravens (14/25), FS Will Blackmon (13/25), Golston (10/25).