Welcome to the Commanders Today Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Welcome to the Commanders Today Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The first three rounds of the NFL Draft have officially wrapped, and the Commanders welcome new additions to both sides of the ball. Washington traded their first round pick to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for the sixteenth overall pick and both
a third and fourth round selection. With the sixteenth overall pick, the Commanders drafted wide receiver John Dotson out of Penn State. I had the chance to sit down with Dotson after his arrival in Ashbourne. John, Welcome to Washington. Now. We got to talk last night, but now you're here, You've been able to see the facility, meet some of the coaches. How is it settling in for you? Yeah, it's crazy,
honestly a dream come true. Just taking it all in, being here, getting picked last night, flying here today, being with my family. It's honestly amazing. It's a dream come true. And you said you were kind of surprised, you weren't sure who was going to select you or where you're going to be selected. What have you learned so far from the coaching staff of what they say of why you were their guy. Yeah, they said they've been looking at me for a while now and they just kind
of wanted to keep it a secret. Didn't want all the teams knowing that they were interested in me and basically telling me that I'm a versatile receiver who can do a lot of things, who can compliment guys who are in the receiver room right now, and someone who can be a vertical threat down the field, and then adding special teams value is always good. Okay, so you're just led me write into it. Let's get straight into your game. Then, Yeah, they do line you up inside outside?
Where do you feel more comfortable though doesn't matter. I feel like it doesn't matter to me, to be honest with you. I feel more comfortable of being able to go inside and outside. So being able to show my versatility and show the different things that I can do on the football field is something that plays right into my game. Your coach Rivera says you have. One of the things he loves about was you have this great catch radius. You're five to eleven. Let's just state the
obvious um. You know, typically to go up and be able to do that against some other taller dbs is not easy. Maybe your height, How do you play bigger than your size? Yeah, just kind of having a it's more of a mentality thing, kind of having that dog mentality. I'm like, I've been the youngest of eight cousins, so pretty much growing up getting bullied and picked on. It kind of raised me to be the man I am today and just overcome my fears and overcome challenges in
my life. So being able to do those things. I look at tall tasks as just things that I want to accomplish. I know you haven't had much time, but then have you been able to go and thank all your cousins say hey, this is for you picking up me when I was three years old. Now right, Literally they were all there last night, so I feel like I kind of got the last laugh a little bit. But it's been pretty cool. Yeah. We normally always see
you with a football and hands. In fact, I was anticipating here, but as he walks up, he you toss it up or to your best friend that's here with you as well. It's great to be surrounded by good people. Why is that the football? Yeah, honestly, it feels like It's like a little piece of me that like always feels like home wherever I bring it, no matter what, something that I can just resort back to, and it's kind of just a way for me to just get away.
I can kind of be my be by myself, just chilling and I could be throwing the ball up in the air. Kind of feels like I'm just getting away from everything. We've seen some pretty athletic one handed grabs as well. Is there anything or psychology or science to you always having the ball in your hand that maybe helps you be able to do that in the game. Yeah, there's definitely probably some some type of study that me always having football in my hands has helped me with
being able to make those crazy acrobatic catches. But I would honestly say most of it is just guy giving ability, just thanking the man above for kind of blessing me and touching me. So just thanking him and being able to do these things is a dream come true. A lot of people do say that one of the best traits of your game is you do have good hands. Yeah, you're also got some good speech to you as well. We talk a lot Santana Moss as one of our guys.
He'll be around a good bit he talks about. He said, Man, he is always open, and you're good at running routes and doing that. What do you pride yourself most on in your game? Yeah, definitely my route running. Yeah, taking pride in that is big for me. Just because I'm not a bigger guy, I can't just rely on my
side to get open. So Um, making sure that I'm precise in the little details of route running it's huge for me, and it's gonna be able to make me create separation against guys who are just as good as me and have just as much as athleticism as me. So taking pride in those little details of route running is really big. You know. I asked him last night because you said that you kind of enjoy like, kind of manipulating your defenders a little bit Nasum and said,
what does that mean? What goes into that? And he says, it means he's a smart kid first off, right, because you're able to know how they're playing you on certain reads and certain things to be able to change it up a little bit. You're also one of the best when it comes to the nine six percentile when playing in the zone. You don't have time to see that. You have to be able to recognize it when you're on the run. Right, Where do these smarts come from? Yeah,
I would definitely say my experience at Penn State. Coming from a small high school, you don't see big time football. You're kind of out there, just kind of free for all, just playing and kind of lending your natural abilities take over. But once I got to Penn State, as you know, when you get to when you move up the ranks, you kind of get guys who are just as good as you, get just as athletic as you, and you got to find a little advantage and the film the
film room was big for me. Getting in there with Sean Sean Clifford, a guy who I got to play three years with is my quarterback, and just seeing the things that he sees. He's a very intelligent football player, so just learning from him, learning how to watch film and learn the nuances of defenses and what they're trying to do to you. It helps me manipulate my defender. Everybody kind of wants to also be able to find a way to identify of who you will be as
a player, so they go to kind of former guys. Right. Yeah, we've heard coach m ar so you're remind them a little bit of Deshaun Jackson and and that of it too, was kind of playing bigger than your size. Um of Steve Smith when he was with Carolina. We've heard Tyler Lockett. Um. People even here are saying, you know, Terry McLaurin, And that's just kind of a lot of it too, I think,
is how you you're carrying yourself. Um. And Terry's kind of that guy that's kind of like nitty gritty as well, Like he goes up and he prides himself on those fifty fifty balls. Who do you model your game after? Or what do you think when you hear those names doing the success that they've had. Yeah, it's definitely pretty cool to hear the names that are that I'm mentioned with,
especially Terry mclauren. Uh, talking to a lot of people in the in the building and just noticing how how I'm picturing my head Terry McLaren is, I can't wait to meet him. Uh. It's honestly like this was kind of meant to be a little bit. He's kind of a guy who who goes about his work. Quiet guy who goes about his work and I'm the exact same way, So just honestly can't wait to meet him, can't wait
to learn from him and take his song. He's beloved here, So you're gonna fit right in line with the Burgundy and gold. Um, and what you're going to contribute to on the field. What do people need to know about you off the field though? Yeah? Um, I'm a quiet kid, quiet laid back kid who just likes having fun, honestly, really easygoing. U loves to play video games. Um, yeah, just can't wait to I'm excited for this moment, So can't wait to get in the community and really uh
just be a part of it. And you have some family here as well that lives in Potomac. They told you anything to expect about your move here, Maybe where you want to look, Yeah, not too much. Knowing that I'll be able to somewhere, be able to go outside my front door and yell and hear their name will be pretty cool. But um, haven't really thought about a living situation too much, But just excited to be here
in the moment right now. And we now know it's that number one Jersey that's a bold move, man, that's a bold move. That's a bold move, and I honestly can't wait for it. Feeling like the perfect it was a perfect opportunity to first pick ever for the commanders and just be able to being able to wear that number one jersey. It's gonna be pretty cool. Welcome, Glad to have you here, and let me just finish with this. Doug Williams picked you up on the flight. Yeah, there
is so much rich history with this franchise. You are now a part of that history and a new chapter being that first commander drafted. Um, it's important for us to tie our history with today. What did you get take from talking with Doug to know the importance of
you being here and being now the first commander? Yeah, definitely talking with Doug was amazing, honestly, just getting on the flight with him, talking to him about what it is to be a commander, what it is to be a part of this organization, and what it means to the city. Um, it's it's amazing. I can't wait for this opportunity and I can't wait to talk with him even more about it. So, um, just looking forward, looking forward to it as coach On Rivera said, you're here
to help change the trajectory of this franchise. Welcome, glad to have you. Thank you. Be sure to tune into Washington Football Today weeknights five thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. And while you're at it, be sure to follow at Commanders on all social media platforms for the latest news on the team. Thanks for listening.