Jayden Daniels gets a new weapon that should help make a big part of his game even better
The Washington Commanders have a need at wide receiver, and are addressing it by claiming K.J. Osborn.Osborn, who was waived by the New England Patriots earlier this week, was picked up off waivers Wednesday by Washington. Osborn was a fifth-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings from the 2020 NFL Draft. He spent his first four […]
The Washington Commanders have a need at wide receiver, and are addressing it by claiming K.J. Osborn.
Osborn, who was waived by the New England Patriots earlier this week, was picked up off waivers Wednesday by Washington.
Osborn was a fifth-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings from the 2020 NFL Draft. He spent his first four years in the league with the Vikings and caught 158 passes for 1,845 yards and 15 touchdowns. He left Minnesota for a one-year, $4 million deal with the Patriots this past offseason.
Through 14 weeks, Osborn had played just seven games in New England and caught the same number of passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. The decision to waive him was mutual according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Why K.J. Osborn makes complete sense for the Commanders
While he didn't work out for a struggling Patriots team, Osborn becomes an ideal fit for what the 8-5 Commanders need in their quest to secure a wild card spot for the playoffs.
The Commanders lost starting wideout Noah Brown to a "significant internal injury" during Week 13's win over the Tennessee Titans. That leaves a vacancy at the receiver position for a former starter like Osborn to fill.
"Tough news on Noah, he's going to be out for a while," Commanders head coach Dan Quinn told reporters on Wednesday. "He had a significant internal injury from the game, and so that's going to knock him out for a while. We love him and his play style, the identity of how he goes, and so that would hurt. He's been absolutely one of our glue guys. And after the game, or during the game between him and the medical staff, they did a really good job to address what was a serious injury. And fortunately, he's going to be okay, but it's going to knock him out for a bit."
Brown proved to be a nice complement opposite of Terry McLaurin, but Osborn's history of being an effective deep target should make him an ideal fit for quarterback Jayden Daniels. Five of Daniels' touchdowns have come on passes of at least 20 air yards, and his 0.82 EPA/drop back on such throws ranks fifth in the league. Osborn hauled in 11 of his 26 targets of 20+ yards or more for 441 yards and five touchdowns during his two fully healthy seasons in Minnesota from 2021-22.
Replacing Brown with Osborn appears to be the plan for the Commanders moving forward. Daniels' deep passing should be able to unlock what the Patriots couldn't with the 27-year old receiver.
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