Washington Commanders

Washington Redskins Shut Down First-round Pick

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Washington Redskins’ 2016 first-round pick Josh Doctson has been hobbling just about all season long. So after appearing in two of a possible six games this season, they mercifully shut him down, likely for the season Friday.

The Washington Redskins are strong at receiver so using their first-round pick on a receiver was surprising. So it would have been pretty hard to make a huge immediate impact this year. Add an Achilles injury and it’s impossible to make that huge impact.

It’s not an obvious tear so he’s been trying to fight through it but the pain became unbearable. So Friday, the Redskins announced that he could miss the remainder of the season. In Doctson’s two appearances in games this season, he caught two passes for 66 yards.

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Gruden told reporters Friday, “We saw another specialist, a couple of them now, with all the work that we’ve put in, we thought it was best to immobilize him for a little bit of time and see if that can help.

“By the time he gets out of the boot, then he’ll need time to see if he’s ready and hopefully we’ll get him back for the last, maybe, two games of the year. He could be out for the year. He could not be. I don’t know yet, we’ll see how he is.

“Big thing is to just get him healthy. Based on all the research we’ve done, we thought this was best for him basically. It’s disappointing, but I think it’s best for him. That’s the most important thing. I think for his state of mind, it’s important to get this thing fixed and do it the right way.

“Based on all the information we’ve gathered, we tried to push him along maybe a little bit too hard because we didn’t feel like we couldn’t find anything wrong, but obviously he feels there’s something wrong in there, something is bothering him.

“So let’s get to the bottom of it, get him healthy and get him for the ready for the end of the year or next year.”

The Redskins obviously drafted him for the future so this is the right call!

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