Tag: Josh Doctson opt out

Report: Jets’ opt-out Josh Doctson going to Africa on humanitarian mission

According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Jets’ opt-out Josh Doctson is heading to Rwanda on a humanitarian mission.

It looks like Jets wide receiver Josh Doctson is planning on making the most out of his year away from football.

According to the New York Daily News’ Manish Mehta, Doctson, who became the third Jets player to opt-out of the 2020 season, is traveling to Africa on a humanitarian mission in an effort to help the needy. Mehta reported that COVID-19 concerns weighed heavily on Doctson’s decision to opt-out, but he also told people in the Jets’ organization that he “feels that his calling is to help the underprivileged at this time.”

Strict travel restrictions are in place across the world in order to limit the spread of coronavirus, but certain countries in Africa are still allowing visitors from the United States, including Rwanda, which Doctson has visited before.

Doctson took a trip to Rwanda with his girlfriend two winters ago. He initially planned on visiting Ghana, but changed course once he learned of Rwanda’s civil war in the 1990s and how its natives came together to overcome genocide.

“We went to the genocide museum and we saw a lot of things I wasn’t really aware of,” Doctson told the Washington Football Team’s website. “How the genocide started, what happened in the genocide and what’s going on now. [Rwanda] is a very, very safe place. Infrastructure is amazing, they rebuilt everything, people moving, energy’s high. We loved it. I really don’t know what other trip can top Rwanda right now. I really want to keep going back and back and try to figure out how to give opportunities to these people who are in need.”

Doctson signed with the Jets in February on a one-year, $825,000 deal, which will be rolled over to next season. He will receive a $150,000 advance of his 2021 salary, per terms of the NFL-NFLPA opt-out agreement. After playing only seven snaps with the Vikings last season due to injury, the former first-round pick was expected to compete for a spot on New York’s razor-thin wide receiver depth chart in training camp.

Josh Doctson places health above chance to revive career by opting out of 2020 season

By opting out of the 2020 NFL season, Jets wide receiver Josh Doctson prioritized his health over the chance to revive his career.

When Josh Doctson signed with the Jets back in February, chances are he was thinking more about reviving his career than he was about a global pandemic.

A week into training camp, however, and Doctson has decided to put his fifth NFL season off. The wide receiver pulled the plug on his 2020 campaign on Thursday, joining Leo Kolomatangi and C.J. Mosley as the third Jets player to opt-out due to COVID-19 concerns. Considering all that was at stake for Doctson this August, this had to be a hard decision.

When New York signed Doctson, it inherited a player whose career was at a crossroads. The former first-round pick flopped in Washington, recording no more than 532 receiving yards in any of his three seasons there before being released. Doctson’s tenure with the Vikings was even shorter, as he was cut mid-season after playing only seven snaps for Minnesota.

Despite the rough start to Doctson’s professional career, another opportunity presented itself in the Big Apple. With their wide receiver room lacking depth, the Jets took a chance on the TCU product. This was much more than an offseason flier signing, too. Doctson was going to have a legitimate chance to turn things around and make New York’s 53-man roster out of training camp.

Instead, Doctson prioritized his health and the health of those around him by opting out — a brave decision for a 27-year-old whose career was already at stake. He could have kept chugging along in an effort to finally reach his potential, but the risks that come along with playing football during a pandemic were simply too loud for him to ignore.

Doctson opting to put his career on pause cannot be viewed in the same ilk as Mosley’s. Doctson does not have an $85 million contract to fall back on. He made good money on his rookie contract, but at this rate, that might be the last multi-million dollar deal he ever signs. There is no guarantee another team, the Jets included, give Doctson another chance in 2021. By then it will have been two seasons since he caught a pass, and that will not make him an attractive option for teams in the market for a wide receiver.

Doctson, however, made his choice. He placed his health above a potential career revival. That might seem like a crazy decision to some, but with a deadly virus still floating around, Doctson thought just the opposite.