Julius Thomas Will Make Broncos Miss Him in 2015

Julius Thomas will make Blake Bortles a very happy quarterback over the next five seasons. Thomas brings 12 TDs per season with him to the Jacksonville Jaguars, instantly making their red zone offense something special.

Blake Bortles couldn’t be happier. General manager Dave Caldwell couldn’t be happier. Head coach Gus Bradley is definitely happy. Owner Shad Khan is probably grinning to himself on his giant yacht as well.

Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos…not so much.

The Denver Broncos are going to miss out on a highly productive scoring tight end. Thomas didn’t have the flashiest yardage or reception totals, but those 12 TDs in each of the last two seasons is something that the most productive offense in NFL history is going to miss. Gil Brandt over at NFL.com absolutely got it right when he said:

"Virgil Green is a good blocker, an ability that might make him a better all-around player. Owen Daniels isn’t bad. Gary Kubiak is a good coach who knows how to design an offense. But as of right now, there’s no tight end in Denver who can touch Thomas’ ability to put points on the board."

As happy as I am to see Julius Thomas take his talents to the Jaguars, it’s important to not forget the vacancy he left behind in Denver. The Jaguars scored a masterful stroke in the 2015 NFL Free Agency period by bringing Thomas in. The Broncos have plenty of talent left and certainly won’t collapse, but how productive their tight ends are over the next season will show just how special Thomas can (and I argue, will) be for the Jaguars.

We’ve talked about Julius Thomas not being a wuss before and I think he’ll instantly show that he can succeed outside of Denver, even with a second-year quarterback like Blake Bortles. He an succeed in Jacksonville just by drawing attention away from other weapons on the team. That’s something Denver no longer has as Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas will have to perform even better now that there isn’t that scoring machine in place at tight end.

Seeing how effective Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos are without Thomas will be as important to consider when looking at the performance of Julius Thomas with the Jaguars. It will help everyone gauge how important he actually was, giving a better value for how critical he is for the Jaguars.

I wager he was more important than the Broncos have been willing to let on at this point and they’ll be missing him in the 2015 season.

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