Minnesota is moving on from one 2016 first-round wideout by adding another.
Days after cutting receiver Laquon Treadwell after three seasons with the club, the Vikings signed former Redskins pass-catcher Josh Doctson to a one-year deal, a source told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero on Monday. The team later made the deal official.
Both Doctson and Treadwell were waived by their respective teams of entry ahead of Saturday's deadline to finalize initial 53-man rosters. Both players went unclaimed.
While Doctson has found a new home on the open market, Treadwell remains unsigned.
Selected 22nd overall by Washington in the 2016 draft, Doctson fell out of favor with Jay Gruden's staff. The receiver was inconsistent and injury-prone in his three years in D.C., missing most of his rookie year with an Achilles injury and starting 26 games for the 'Skins. The team declined his fifth-year option in May.
Doctson left Washington with 81 receptions for 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns. That production far outdoes that of Treadwell whom Minnesota drafted one spot after Washington's selection of Doctson. Treadwell racked up 56 catches for 517 yards and just one score in 40 games and 15 starts for the Vikes.
In Minnesota, Doctson will reunite with Kirk Cousins, his quarterback in 2016 and 2017. Doctson was Cousins' second-most targeted receiver in 2017 (78 targets) but finished fifth on the team in receptions (35). His 44.9 catch percentage that season was the fifth-worst among receivers with at least 50 targets.
Doctson is joining a receiving corps flush with talent, led by arguably the league's top wideout duo in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen and also including potential breakout slot man Chad Beebe and Bisi Johnson.
