The Jacksonville Jaguars seemingly had enough of Brian Thomas Jr. in the loss to the Houston Texans. Although their trust in him hadn't wavered in spite of his struggles, they had no choice but to bench him after having two drops in Week 6.
Following the game, head coach Liam Coen simply stated that Thomas needs to make plays. Given that the 2024 first-round pick has seen a steep drop-off in playing time, he's once again become the subject of trade rumors.
But whether Jacksonville trades Thomas or not, teammate Trevor Lawrence isn't giving up on him just yet.
Trevor Lawrence is confident Brian Thomas Jr. can get back on track
Trevor Lawrence met with the local media after the loss to the Texans. He said Brian Thomas Jr. just has to keep working, noting that he's too talented not to bounce back.
"Yeah, I think we just have to keep working, keep plugging away. You know, keep finding opportunities to give him shots at the ball," Lawrence told reporters after the game. "And I think, for him, just keep playing and let the ball find you. That's the big thing, is don't try to chase too much. Obviously, we need to get them involved more, and we're going to need them. So, just excited for the opportunity moving forward to do that, and just got to stick with it."
Lawrence continued, "This game's funny. It doesn't always work exactly how you want it to, and sometimes things can be challenging, getting a specific guy touches and involved, and just stick with it. The ball will find him; it'll come his way. He's too good of a player for it not to, and just keep working, which he's done. So just keep showing up, and we're gonna, you know, gonna get through it."
You have to give Lawrence credit for sticking with Thomas even though they don't have a great connection on the field. Leaving football aside, No. 16 is the kind of player and leader who's always going to look out for his teammates, so it's not particularly shocking to find out that he hasn't given up on Thomas in spite of his struggles.
Having said that, it's hard to see Thomas having a substantial role on offense after failing to make the most of the opportunities he's gotten.
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It may be time for the Jaguars to move on from Brian Thomas Jr.
The Jaguars may be hesitant to give Brian Thomas Jr. any more chances moving forward since he wasn't able to take advantage of the ones he had thus far. For his part, maybe he's tuned out. It's hard to tell from an outside perspective just what's holding the former LSU Tiger back, but he could most definitely benefit from a fresh start with another team.
You could argue that the Jaguars shouldn't trade Brian Thomas Jr. because other teams are worried about his deep-threat capabilities. However, he hasn't put them to good use, so it doesn't truly make much sense to keep someone who's been used as a decoy and will only take away snaps from another player who can make plays with them.
If Jacksonville ended up putting Thomas on the trade block, he should garner ample interest since he could help receiver-needy teams in both the NFC and the AFC.
Simply put, the Jaguars cannot keep giving Brian Thomas Jr. chances, and it doesn't make sense to keep him around if he's not going to play, so don't be surprised if they finally cut ties with him and make him available at the deadline.
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