Evan Engram on Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas: 'You Can Put Them Anywhere on The Field'

The Jaguars' tight end is high on the versatility of his new teammates.

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Gabe Davis (0) runs a route during the first day of an NFL football training camp practice Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at EverBank Stadium’s Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA

How much the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive identity changes and evolves in 2024 will largely revolve around the two newest faces: wide receivers Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas Jr.

The two wideouts were amongst the most significant investments the Jaguars made this offseason, with Davis becoming one of their highest-paid free agents in March and Thomas being selected with the No. 23 pick. And so far, the pair have made an impression on the core pieces of the offense they're joining.

“I mean, you can put them anywhere on the field." Jaguars tight end Evan Engram said on Friday. "Gabe was here for rookie minicamp and he sent me some clips of him running some slot routes. He was joking around that he was going to take some of my inside routes, my underneath routes. I was like, shoot, I’ll take the yards-per-catch that you came in with.

"But yeah, those guys are awesome. They’re great to be around but they’re hard workers. BT [WR Brian Thomas Jr.] is super smart. Super smart. Super locked in. I don’t think I’ve seen him have an ME [mental error] once since he’s been here. That just tells a lot about his mentality and the future is really bright for him. Gabe is a great energetic guy, but on Sundays, he’s a clutch player. He’s a big-time player. He’s a big-time playmaker. I just love having those guys around and implementing them in the offense has been really smooth and really natural.”

Davis will likely step into the 'X' role in the Jaguars' offense, taking the point man role on the line of scrimmage. He proved to be a big-play threat throughout his career at Buffalo, and the Jaguars expect to see more and more flashes of his impact as pads come on.

"I think a lot of the things that Gabe can do, you'll see more in the live periods, which we don't have a ton of those," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said on Thursday.

"But as the pads come on and things get physical, there's an element to Gabe that we expect to bring out of him, or him to bring out in our offense even more. Obviously, he's got length, he's got speed, he's got play speed. So, those are all things that as we just continue to grow and build, we think he'll add to the offense.”

As for Thomas, the No. 23 pick out of LSU will be expected to bring his genuine 4.3 speed to the outside, giving the Jaguars more of a vertical presence than they have had in past years.

“He's handled things really well. He has retained a lot of the information that we taught through the summer, through the offseason, carried it over very well," Taylor said about Thomas.

"And again, everybody's getting used to the speed of the red zone in particular. When you start there, it makes it tough at times for the condensed space, the way things happen. The value he's going to bring, we expect it to show up in the red zone. We expect it to show up in all aspects of our offense as well. Those are things that we haven't necessarily got to at this point in time. Again, it's about putting in concepts that we think will help us down the road. Not necessarily that are going to win a rep today on a scripted practice.”

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