Josh Doctson‘s career strengths and weaknesses as told by the advanced analytics and film.
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- Quinnen Williams
Here’s everything you need to know about former first-round pick Josh Doctson as he looks to win a spot on the Jets’ wide receiver depth chart.
Two positive stats to maintain
Solid downfield play-making
Doctson’s best work has come in the intermediate and deep ranges. From 2017-18, he averaged 9.8 air yards per reception, which ranked 28th out of 93 qualified wide receivers (71st percentile).
Decent hands
Over the course of his career, Doctson has made 81 receptions and been credited with six drops. That gives him a drop rate of 6.9%, slightly below the 2019 wide receiver average of 7.5%.
Doctson also has yet to fumble the ball over 82 career touches.
Two negative stats to improve
Catch rate
Doctson owns an abysmal career catch rate of 50% (81 grabs on 162 targets). That ranks 96th out of 100 qualified wide receivers since 2016 (4th percentile).
While Doctson ranks 39th out of 100 in yards per reception since 2016 (13.6), his awful catch rate drops him down to 89th in yards per target (6.8).
Getting open
As described earlier, drops (at least blatant ones) have not been a major issue for Doctson. The main cause of his low catch rate has simply been his inability to create separation as a route-runner, which has led to a lot of low-percentage contested situations on throws his way.
Failing to separate not only hurts your on-ball efficiency, but it’s going to lead to some long stretches of silence. When you’re not getting open, you’re not going to get targeted very often, and your volume production will suffer. The numbers clearly showcase how Doctson has struggled in this area.
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So the question maybe can WR coaches, Shawn Jefferson, and Hines Ward, tun Josh Doctson ‘s career around ?
Jefferson and Ward seem like great coaches. I’m excited to see what they do with a very moldable group – Mims, Perriman, Doctson. Smith as well, as he enters his second year with a team for the first time.
Very important thought. Believe Jefferson is all about route running, can make a huge difference in the WR’s performance for those that embtace. Ward can make my monster blockers out of Mims and /or Cage , Doctson if he is smart.
Doctson has the perfect body type , and intermediate game that offsets speedsters Mims, & Perriman. Big Vyncent Smith fan , doesn’t have the body type, but has speed, length, gets separation with quickness, breakout year more than a gadget guy. Cager , perfect body type for intermediate game, plays ST. In short last stop for Doctson …toast.
Thanks for the knowledge. I had no idea, just thought doctson was a guy who maybe never made it because of injuries and bad qbs. But from these stats, this guy looks absolutely detrimental to a young qb. He ran such bad routes that if you told me he was being leaned on to throw games, id believe you, lol. Im kidding. But yea, id rather see campbell or cager flash in tc and earn that last spot. And then the other one show enough to make the ps.
i mean, yea, i do see the positives here too. But hopefully we’ll have mims making those incredible catches but at a better rate than doctson. We’ll see.
Agreed, while injuries threw him off course from the very start, I think he just plain old hasn’t been good. Because you can see plenty of athleticism now and then. It’s not as if he lost that. He just flat-out doesn’t get open.
My expectations are very low, but his chances of making the team are decent, so hopefully he can throw in a couple highlight plays throughout the season if he does. A red zone TD here and a nice circus grab there. But I’ll be rooting for the better upside of Cager or Campbell.
As you said, I think Mims can be who the league thought Doctson could. Mims has the subtlety to his route-running that allows his acrobatic ability and athleticism to shine. He knows how to use his hands to free himself and go up. Doctson hasn’t mastered those things, so he is just a good leaper who always has a defender draped on him.
And as Joe Blewett noted in his film review, Mims has the potential to be an amazing separator. Even with a ton of technical issues to refine, he was already creating a lot of separation in college because his raw quickness is just that good. So with some time to hone the details, he can win on some more slants, curls, comebacks, and things of that nature routinely, adding all of that to his already-great ability to use his hands to fend off defenders. Very excited about Mims!
Yea man, im still really excited about Mims. His raw talent plus what seems to be a really good coach in jefferson plus some nfl experience. And if him and darnold click, which im sure they will, sky’s the limit! Its hard to temper my expectations, i do understand it likely will take a year or 2. But still…. pumped!