Why Rookies Are Impacting the Game More Than Ever

Rookie wide receivers are making more of an impact on their respective teams recently. Luckily for the Jaguars, they have one of those playmakers on their roster.

Oct 6, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. (7) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts in the second quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Over the last few seasons, rookie wide receivers have experienced plenty of success. Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor believes this is partially because of the progression of the National Football League.

It is undeniable that the league began transitioning to more of a passing league.

“I think just obviously the game is heading more towards a passing league,” Taylor said. “I think that's true to say. The average number of yards per quarterback and stuff like that is,  now you have everybody throwing over 4,000 each season where that was not as common place back in the day. I think part of that's just the way these kids grow up now.” 

Taylor noted that most skill players entering the league now grew up with a different way of preparing themselves to move up the ranks. Skills training has helped develop players much quicker and at a much younger age, helping shorten their learning curve when they get to the league. 

“I mean, these kids grew up playing 7-on-7 forever,” Taylor said. “So, they've seen all these coverages. They've seen all these route concepts to where there's not as much surprising them or overwhelming them early in their careers. But at the same time, I think it's a credit to the kids that come out.”

Taylor credited Thomas with being flexible enough to help the team in multiple ways, even if he is not the primary target on a play. Thomas’ flexibility could be seen during the team’s first win of the season against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

“They're able to handle a lot. Brian [WR Brian Thomas Jr.], you'd never know it, but Brian plays multiple positions throughout the course of the game for us. He and Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] and Christian [WR Christian Kirk] are constantly changing who they are in the huddle. 

“And that's something nobody would ever notice, but it gives us so much flexibility as a coaching staff to be able to kind of shrink the play call because we can just handle it with personnel grouping. But that's a credit to our guys. You can't put that on everybody all the time. It confuses people. It slows down their processing.”

“With Brian, he hasn't missed a beat in terms of that. He's the Z this play, he’s the X that play and there may be a handful he plays the F for us. So that's just a credit to him. But I think a lot of these kids now just come up having thrown the ball a lot more, having run a lot more concepts through summer, obviously in their college and high school careers as well.”

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