Jacksonville Jaguars: Is Julius Thomas a concern?

Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Julius Thomas was the biggest news of the 2015 offseason but he never seemed to be on the same page as quarterback Blake Bortles. Should the team be concerned?

24 touchdowns in his two seasons before coming the Jacksonville Jaguars made Julius Thomas a hot commodity when he hit the free agency market. He took the money and came to a team that was still struggling to find its feet in its rebuild.

Nobody expected Thomas to achieve the same level of production with the Jags as he did with the legendary Peyton Manning while with the Denver Broncos. So when he “only” caught five of Blake Bortles’ 35 touchdown passes it was taken in stride.

After all, Thomas still contributed those five touchdowns in just 12 games after he injured his hand in the preseason. He also contributed 455 yards on 46 catches (relatively in line with 2014’s 489 yards on 43 catches in Denver). There’s no question that Thomas was an important cog in the offense. He finished third on the team in receptions, yards, and touchdowns, falling behind only stud wide receivers Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns.

What has this writer concerned, though, is his decline in total catch rate. Thomas caught only 46 of his 80 targets (57.5 percent). While Bortles doesn’t throw a perfect ball, that was well below his 72.2 percent in 2013 and his 69.4 percent in 2014. Further, it was the second worst among the top-five receivers on the 2015 Jags (the Allen brothers, T.J. Yeldon, and receiver Bryan Walters). Only Robinson’s 53 percent was worse, but he was trying to make catches that, frankly, were near impossible a lot of the time.

Throughout the 2015 season I couldn’t shake the feeling that Thomas and Bortles couldn’t get on the same page. There were mistimed routes, confusion on where Bortles was expecting Thomas to be, and the occasional drop that was not expected from a stud touchdown threat like Thomas.

The 2016 preseason seems to have brought more of the same for the Jacksonville Jaguars tight end. Thomas hasn’t even found the stat sheet this preseason, but was noticeable for one big drop in the end zone.

While it may be too early to think that Thomas isn’t going to deliver as a third or fourth receiving option in the suddenly explosive Jags offense, it is interesting that he hasn’t quite gotten to a point where he can do exciting things in game situations that he does in practice.

Related Story: Will the rushing attack pick up the slack?

Julius Thomas is critical for the success of the Jags going forward. As the third preseason game approaches, I would love to see him be more involved in the offense and see the Thomas-Bortles connection that was so highly touted before 2015. Until then, Thomas should be watched closely to see if he can deliver on the field.