If Josh Doctson isn’t long for the Washington Redskins, his head coach isn’t letting on.
Amid rumors and reports that the former first-round wideout is a cut or trade candidate, Redskins coach Jay Gruden was mum on Doctson’s roster status when asked about it Tuesday.
“He probably won’t play this week,” Gruden said bluntly Tuesday, per The Washington Post.
Asked what that means for Doctson’s place on the roster, the coach added, “It means he won’t play this week. We’ll see what happens. I’m not going to say anybody is making it or not, making it right now. We still have another game to play and evaluations to make.”
Doctson, selected by Gruden’s staff with the 22nd overall pick in the 2016 draft, has appeared to have fallen out of favor, and Washington’s depth chart reflects that. The ‘Skins are currently slated to enter the season with Paul Richardson and Trey Quinn as starters with rookie Terry McLaurin making a bee line for the No. 2 role.
The fourth-year wideout has been serviceable over the last two years in D.C. but has not lived up to his first-round billing. Doctson missed nearly the entire 2016 campaign with an Achilles injury and has dealt with myriad injuries (hamstring, heel, shoulder) since entering the league. Doctson has played in 33 games and started 26 games for Washington, recording 81 receptions for 1,100 yards and eight scores.
Washington declined the receiver’s fifth-year option in May.
Doctson has been targeted twice and caught one ball for 16 yards in the preseason.
Some Redskins beat writers have projected that Doctson has been passed over in favor of younger, cheaper receiving options like McLaurin, Cam Sims and Kelvin Harmon, and that Washington has been angling to trade Doctson for some time. If that were the case, his $1.8 base salary would be an attractive contract for a receiver-needy team to take a flier on.
But Gruden has not said concretely that Washington is fixed on keeping, cutting or trading Doctson. And so we wait for cutdown day.