This season has not gone according to plan for second-year Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. His struggles through seven games raised questions about his future with the franchise, but coach Liam Coen put any indications of a looming trade to rest on Monday when he said plainly that the Jaguars have no plans to move him. The NFL trade deadline arrives on Nov. 4.
Thomas is seeking a rebound on the heels of the Jaguars’ bye week. His 17-game pace is well behind schedule compared to last year when he racked up 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns in a tremendous rookie campaign.
“I am very optimistic,” Coen said of a potential breakthrough in the second half of the season. “We have no plans on moving Brian Thomas Jr. at all. Saw something about that over the weekend. But, I mean, I talked to him for a good amount of time this morning, and it’s just a good reset for a lot of these guys to come in fresh. We’re 4-3 with everything ahead of us. Good, bad or indifferent, what’s happened in the first seven games, we all have an opportunity to write a narrative. We own the narrative.”
Despite logging more targets than any other Jaguars receiver, Thomas ranks second on the team in catches behind rookie Travis Hunter. His 27 grabs for 365 yards and one touchdown are massively disappointing in the context of what he accomplished in his debut season.
Thomas is on pace to finish with just over half the yardage and approximately one-third of the touchdowns he logged as a rookie.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in him,” Coen said. “I really do believe that we can turn the corner and get better in the pass game that way.”
Thomas, a former first-round pick and the fourth-place finisher in last year’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award race, gets his next chance at a breakout game on Sunday when the Jaguars travel to face the Las Vegas Raiders. Even without standout contributions from their No. 1 receiver, the Jaguars remain within striking distance of the AFC South lead, but they have ground to make up on the upstart Indianapolis Colts. The 4-3 Jaguars would hold the AFC’s final wild card spot if the regular season ended today.