The Secret to Jaguars Rookie WR Thomas' Success

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. has continued to emerge over the past few weeks. The Jaguars continue to put him in position to be successful.

Dec 15, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. (7), wide receiver Devin Duvernay (12), wide receiver Parker Washington (11), running back Travis Etienne Jr. (1) and the offense huddle against the New York Jets during the second quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. with the 23rd-overall pick in the most recent NFL Draft with the expecation that he would eventually grow into one of the team's best wide receivers, if not their top wide receiver.

However, halfway through his rookie season, Thomas was thrown into a much more extensive role than most thought possible so early in his career. Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor detailed what has been behind Thomas' emergence.

“I think a lot of it, I mean, unfortunately, with all the injuries, is it's put more on him," Taylor said. "We kind of took our time building to it, and then we're kind of forced into it with losing, we've lost Evan [TE Evan Engram], Gabe [WR Gabe Davis], Christian [WR Christian Kirk], all those guys. I think what you're seeing with him, he's really just taking all those roles on different things. A lot of the things that we've thrown to him were things we've thrown to Christian for three years. 

Taylor elaborated on how the offense has now become centered around their budding rookie wide recevier with the injuries the Jaguars offense has suffered. Injuries to the team's veteran pass-catchers created an opening for Thomas.

"Now, Christian's gone, who takes that role? Well, he's shown he's got the skill set to pretty much do anything we ask," Taylor said. "We're making sure we don't overload him mentally, and he's proven he can handle a lot of things. I think there was that little chunk in there where he wasn't probably 100 percent health-wise. He came off a little injury, and we were trying to manage him a little bit, and then from then on, it's just kind of, he’s taken off, and he's confident in what he's asked to do. He's confident in his role in the room. He's growing into just everything we've asked every single day. So, circumstance has given him the opportunity where if everybody stays healthy, I don't know that you see the explosion statistically that you would see because that's kind of getting filtered throughout. "

"I mean, he caught a kind of a bang eight the other day that typically would have been a Gabe, Evan type thing. He caught some choice routes that typically have been Christian and Evan. He's just kind of been able to move around and take all these spots that a lot of people have done and using Parker [WR Parker Washington] and Brenton [TE Brenton Strange] in that role as well has been beneficial to everybody. But the circumstance, the opportunity that he's been given, I think, has really kind of put him in position. Then, he's got the ability to do it all. That's the biggest thing. I mean, if he didn't have that, we wouldn't put that on his plate. We wouldn't ask him to do it all, but he can.”

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