Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 realistic expectations for WR DJ Chark in 2021

Jacksonville Jaguars WR DJ Chark will record his second 1,000-yard season.

Chark still played at a high level in 2020 but the revolving door at the quarterback position didn’t help matters. You don’t start three different signal-callers in a season because you like to experiment. You do it because you don’t have a solution at the position, and that’s what Jacksonville went through last year when the trio of Gardner Minshew II, Jake Luton, and Mike Glennon took turns at quarterback.

Things are going to be different this year though. The Jaguars now have a franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, whom they took with the first overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. With the Clemson standout at the helm, Jacksonville’s offense should see an uptick in production and Chark should be one of the biggest beneficiaries even though free-agent acquisition Marvin Jones Jr. and Laviska Shenault Jr. will also have a big role in the passing game.

In fact, Jones’ presence should help Chark see fewer double teams and force opposing defenses to spread their coverage. Moreover, there’s a realistic chance Lawrence will throw for around 4,000 yards. Last year’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, Justin Herbert, was 396-of-595 for 4,336 and 31 touchdowns.

Let’s say Lawrence finishes the season with 4,000 yards, it wouldn’t be outlandish for Chark to register a bit over 1,000 receiving yards. Back in 2019, Nick Foles and Minshew combined for 4,007 passing yards and Chark had 1,008 of them. For that reason, the odds of him having his second 1,000-yard receiving season are high, but how many touchdowns will he catch in 2021?